Two weeks of lane closures ahead in popular Hilton Head corridor. What to expect
A $1.45 million construction project by Hilton Head Island’s Shelter Cove area will disrupt traffic for the next two weeks, according to a news release from the Town of Hilton Head Island.
The project will change U.S. 278 from the intersection of Queens Folly Road and King Neptune Way with U.S. 278 near Palmetto Dunes north to Shelter Cove Lane and U.S. 278 near the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Parts of the corridor will be widened, and new lights will change traffic flow — especially near the entrance to Shelter Cove Towne Centre. That intersection will be reconfigured to add turning lanes and a traffic light that stops traffic in both directions.
The entire project, funded by town hospitality taxes, should be completed by May, according to town engineers.
All Shelter Cove intersections will remain open during weekends, according to the release.
Here’s what to expect over the next two weeks:
Feb. 17 through Feb. 21
Contractors for the Town of Hilton Head Island will close lanes at the Shelter Cove Lane traffic signal and the median crossover near Whole Foods from Monday to Friday this week.
- Northbound left turn lanes into Shelter Cove Lane at Hickory Tavern (formerly Mall Blvd.) will be closed every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- The left turn lane out of Shelter Cove Lane at Hickory Tavern (formerly Mall Blvd.) intermittently between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
During the week of construction, drivers are urged to use alternate entrances to the Shelter Cove Lane area: Chamber of Commerce Drive, King Neptune Lane, Shelter Cove Lane at the Kroger Fuel Center, The Plaza entrance at Whole Foods, and Shelter Cove Lane next to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department.
Feb. 24 through Feb. 28
During the second week of construction, a smaller intersection north of the main entrance to Shelter Cove Towne Centre will be redone.
- The median crossover into Shelter Cove Plaza at Whole Foods will be closed all week.
Drivers are urged to use alternate entrances to the Shelter Cove Lane area: Chamber of Commerce Drive, King Neptune Lane, Shelter Cove Lane at the Kroger Fuel Center, Shelter Cove Lane (Mall Blvd.) and Shelter Cove Lane at the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Department.
What will happen to Shelter Cove’s trees?
The Town of Hilton Head Island engineers and arborists have developed a plan that protects every Live Oak in the corridor, traffic engineer Darrin Shoemaker told The Island Packet on Feb. 10.
“It’s just a very visually pleasing canopy of Live Oaks over the road, and we want to disturb it as little as possible,” Shoemaker said.
Of the dozens of trees in the median between the north and southbound lanes, just six tree limbs are at risk of being lost during construction. The limbs may keep drivers from being able to see the new traffic lights that will be installed.
Of those, three limbs are considered “significant,” or larger than six inches in diameter, Shoemaker said.
