Update: Traffic slow on Hilton Head bridge after bridge inspection, lane closure
Traffic has been backed up from the Hilton Head Island bridges into Bluffton along eastbound U.S. 278 all day Monday, and this time, it’s not a vehicle accident.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation was conducting an inspection of the bridge, and the right eastbound lane of the highway was blocked into the early afternoon, according to a news release from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
As of 3:30 p.m. all eastbound lanes were open again, but vehicles were still moving slowly from the area around Tanger One outlets to the area around Windmill Harbor.
Contacted Monday, SCDOT public information officer for the Beaufort County district James Law said that crews were inspecting navigational lights on the bottom of the first span of bridge over Mackay’s Creek.
The inspections took several hours on Monday afternoon.
The inspection which caused the lane closure is not part of the U.S. 278 corridor project, the SCDOT coordinator for the project Craig Winn said Monday afternoon.
Law said the work was being done by a contractor, and there should have been better public notification.
He was not sure if the work would continue Tuesday.
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Underwater boring and soil inspection is taking place around the bridges for the corridor project, Winn said, which explains the large boats in the water.
Local law enforcement wasn’t aware of the inspections until Monday afternoon, according to Maj. Bob Bromage, the spokesperson for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
“As soon as we knew about it we got it out,” Bromage said about the 12:45 p.m. news release.
This story was originally published April 29, 2019 at 1:26 PM.
