Update: Lanes reopened on US 278 after 2-car crash Thursday afternoon

At 2 p.m. Thursday, lanes on Fording Island Road were open again after a crash at the entrance to Rose Hill Plantation in Bluffton.

The crash shut down the center and right eastbound lanes of the highway around 1 p.m. Thursday, according to a release from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

There are only minor injuries to the drivers of two cars involved in the crash, Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Bob Bromage told The Island Packet.

The crash occurred when items in the bed of a pickup truck came out of the truck and damaged a sedan traveling behind it on U.S. 278, Bromage said.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol is investigating.

Traffic cameras showed one disabled vehicle in the roadway and another on the median of the entrance to Rose Hill. For nearly an hour, there was only there was only one lane open to eastbound traffic.

Emergency vehicles were on scene at 1 p.m. to help clear the crash.

At 1 p.m., eastbound traffic was backed up to about Buckwalter Parkway, according to Google Maps.

The crash appears to be in the exact location of a crash that killed two Ohio men Jan. 22.

Charles Paul Adams, 76, of Wadsworth, Ohio, was pronounced dead at the scene, and Joseph Feran, 78, of Kirtland, Ohio, died after being airlifted to Savannah Memorial University Medical Center, Beaufort County Coroner Ed Allen told The Island Packet Jan. 23.

That crash occurred when Feran, driving a 2019 Volkswagen Jetta with Adams in the back seat, attempted to make a left turn onto Rose Hill Way and was struck by the driver of a 2019 BMW SUV.

This story was originally published February 20, 2020 at 1:16 PM.

Katherine Kokal

The Island Packet

843-560-9158

Katherine Kokal graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and joined The Island Packet newsroom in 2018. Before moving to the Lowcountry, she worked as an interviewer and translator at a nonprofit in Barcelona and at two NPR member stations. At The Island Packet, Katherine covers Hilton Head Island’s government, environment, development, beaches and the all-important Loggerhead Sea Turtle. She has earned South Carolina Press Association Awards for in-depth reporting, government beat reporting, business beat reporting, growth and development reporting, food writing and for her use of social media.