Tired of the 'awful' commute to Hilton Head? Here's what is causing all that traffic
If you drive alone to work on Hilton Head Island, it's safe to say you're one of the reasons for growing commute times.
More than 14,000 people who work on Hilton Head live off-island, according to the most recent data reported in 2015 from the U.S. Census Bureau. As a result, the island's population increases by about 25 percent each weekday, adding traffic and congestion to the roadways.
In an informal poll taken on The Island Packet's Facebook page recently, 98 percent of respondents who commute onto Hilton Head said they drive alone.
Molly Morgan, of Bluffton, has been making the commute alone for more than 20 years.
After dropping off her daughter at Bluffton Middle School at 8:15 a.m., it takes Morgan a little less than an hour to get to her office on the island's south end. Without any traffic, she can get there in half the time, she said.
"It's awful, bumper to bumper in all three lanes," Morgan said. "But I don't even think about it anymore. It's just become part of my day— sitting in traffic for at least an hour and a half a day."
Solutions to the area's traffic congestion are in the works, including widening a strip of U.S. 278 and increasing public transit routes. But the plans won't fix the problem overnight.
In the meantime, some companies have taken matters into their own hands to make the commute easier on their employers.
Jerry Ashmore, director of workforce development and safety at The Greenery, Inc., said his company has offered a vanpool program for employees for nearly 25 years.
Vanpools are larger-scale carpool operations typically serving people who travel longer distances to work — more than 10 miles or 25 minutes in one direction. Faced with rising gasoline costs, increased traffic congestion and long commute times, transit leaders see vanpool and carpool programs as an important piece to solving the problem.
The Greenery owns about 10 vans, which are used to transport employees every day from Beaufort, Jasper and Hampton counties to work in various locations, including onto the island.
Ashmore said the vanpool program has granted the company "guaranteed labor" even when labor has become harder to find.
"We found that it's more efficient for us; it works well for our schedules," he said.
A supervisor drives the van, making a few stops to pick up 12 to 15 employees and ensuring that the group arrives to work on time. At the end of the day, the group piles back onto the van and makes the return trip home.
"I think it's definitely something that is a benefit not only for us, but for the employees as well, because they don't have to use their vehicle," Ashmore said. "... If they want to sleep, eat, read, whatever on the way, they can do that."
As the number of people commuting onto the island has grown over the years, the Greenery has made another change.
"Our guys get to work at 7 in the morning so they've avoided the morning rush and leave at 3:30 so they don't hit that afternoon rush," Ashmore said. "That helped us make sure we wouldn't get caught up in traffic."
How other areas are dealing with increased congestion
As congestion worsens in cities across the country, municipal leaders are looking for ways to alleviate the issue and Hilton Head is watching.
Last month, the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments launched Lowcountry Go, new website and app aimed at helping commuters find alternative transportation to driving alone, learn how to use public transit systems and matches people who may want to carpool.
"Anything we can do to take cars off the roads means that hopefully we won't have to spend so much on infrastructure, because we can't continue to widen," said Vonie Gilreath, mobility manager for the council of governments.
Gilreath hopes the program in Charleston can serve as an example for areas facing congestion problems across the state, including Hilton Head.
Similarly, as part of a regional effort to reduce traffic and improve air quality in the Atlanta area, the Georgia Department of Transportation funds a program called Georgia Commute Options.
Georgia Commute Options offers free services and incentives to help commuters and employers make the shift from driving alone to various commuting alternatives.
More than 1,600 employers and 100,000 metro Atlanta commuters currently use the service, according to the program's website. Employees who participate in the program can earn up to $150 in cash and win prizes when they make the switch from driving alone.
Assessing transit needs in the Lowcountry
In 2004, the Lowcountry Council of Governments worked with a consultant to produce a market study on vanpooling in the region. At that time, 59 percent of employers polled said they would be interested in a Lowcountry vanpool program.
"Research on potential vanpool markets suggests that there is a positive environment and market potential for creating and growing the Lowcountry vanpool program," the 2005 study determined.
In the wake of the study, the Lowcountry Council of Governments started a small vanpool pilot program, but it was short-lived due to a lack of funding, said Ginnie Kozak, planning director at the Lowcountry Council of Governments.
"Because we didn't have the funding that we do now, we couldn't keep it up," Kozak said. "We're definitely in favor of it, we're just not working on that at this moment."
Instead, the Council of Governments is helping Palmetto Breeze evaluate the need for new bus routes in the Hilton Head and Bluffton area.
In January, The Lowcountry Council of Governments, on behalf of Palmetto Breeze Transit, hired the same transportation company that helps run Georgia Commute Options to produce a six-month study on the public transit needs in Bluffton, Hilton Head and parts of unincorporated Beaufort County in those areas.
At this stage, Kozak said she doesn't know what the firm will recommend, but that she expects there will be more options planned for employees, visitors and people who do not want to drive anymore.
"Some (routes) will undoubtedly be planned to get service employees onto the island, but there are other needs too and we want to identify them all," Kozak said.
After Beaufort, Hilton Head and Bluffton were reclassified as a metropolitan area by the U.S. Census in 2010, the Lowcountry Transportation Authority started receiving an additional $700,000 a year from the federal government on top of its $2.5 million annual budget.
"Now that we have money to spend, we're not going to rush in and start just sending out buses," Kozak said.
Although this phase of planning focuses on public transit, other options such as vanpooling may be discussed in the future, Kozak said.
"We'll be looking at other alternatives, because this is just to get us going," she said. "Hopefully this will be an ongoing thing where we have consultants come in, because needs will change and they will continually be superseded by some other need."
Officials seek input on transportation survey
To participate in Bluffton - Hilton Head Island Area Resident survey on public transportation visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SC-Travel-Survey
This story was originally published March 28, 2018 at 3:07 PM with the headline "Tired of the 'awful' commute to Hilton Head? Here's what is causing all that traffic."