Hilton Head construction project hits a snag, here’s what it means for south end traffic
Construction at the intersection of Pope Avenue and New Orleans Road will continue into next week before it wraps up, according to Hilton Head town engineer Jeff Buckalew.
Buckalew said the project was delayed when construction crews “spliced an underground fiber optic cable” on Aug. 9. Although crews checked the location of underground wires before digging, Buckalew said the cable was not marked in the correct place by Spectrum.
The cable will be replaced by Spectrum early Tuesday morning from midnight until 4 a.m., according to Buckalew. After the new fiber optic wire is in place, the town can run a pipe that will contain wiring for the intersection’s pedestrian signal underground. He said construction staff will replace the cable from a pedestal on the side of the road so no lanes will be disrupted overnight.
The project, which is associated with the University of South Carolina Beaufort’s hospitality campus, was recently expected to be completed last week with the final installation of a traffic signal at the intersection. Buckalew said the project is “substantially complete,” meaning there will be no more daytime lane closures, but that construction crews will still be in the area at least until the end of August.
Buckalew said the remaining tasks in the construction process include concrete work on the gutters and sidewalks surrounding the road, which will not impede on the road, pedestrian signal wiring once the Spectrum cable is repaired, and street sign installation that will require a truck on the side of the road, but no lane closures. Buckalew said that the construction site “should be cleaned up by the end of next week.”
On Aug. 27, Buckalew said crews will return to the site to replace the temporary road striping with permanent plastic striping that outlines lanes and turning directions. This “thermoplastic striping” must be applied to the asphalt 14 days after it is laid.
In October, the area will be landscaped. Buckalew said that landscaping should not affect traffic flow at the intersection.
Last week, town manager Steve Riley referred to this roadwork as “one of the more frustrating projects” in recent years.
He said the project, which began in February and was originally scheduled to end in June, was supposed to be finished last Tuesday night, but was delayed again because of “contractor communication” problems. The paving process required 400 tons of asphalt to be delivered, but Riley said only 200 tons made it to the site earlier this month.
Once this project is finished, more construction cones will be going up on Pope Avenue.
Last week, Riley said that new, under-budget bids have come in for the Lowcountry Celebration Park, which will be located a few blocks down Pope Avenue and Lagoon Road. Work on installing the traffic signal is set to begin on Sept. 4.
Riley said he wanted to be clear that the successful bidder for the Lowcountry Celebration Park-related roadwork is not the same sub-contractor that has led to the frequent delays on the project at Pope Avenue and Office Park Road.
This story was originally published August 16, 2018 at 5:01 PM.