Construction returns on popular Hilton Head road near Cross Island bridge this week
The end of irksome delays and uneven travel on Palmetto Bay Road is in sight.
There will be overnight lane closures on Palmetto Bay Road on Hilton Head Island’s south end this week as crews finish a long-awaited road project from the base of the Cross Island Bridge to Sea Pines Circle, according to a news release from Preferred Materials, the contractor responsible for the job.
Palmetto Bay Road will be closed to one lane from Monday through Saturday this week, and drivers will be directed using flags.
The paving project, managed by the S.C. Department of Transportation, has been worrisome to drivers due to the unfinished edges and large gaps between the existing road and new pavement. Crews started working on the project in fall.
“You’ve got a big seam going down the road where the two pieces of blacktop meet,” island resident Tom Egerton told The Island Packet in February. “And it’s not level with the island (median), which is an indicator it’s not done.”
Work had appeared stalled in recent weeks. Construction crews and equipment weren’t in the area, although the job was clearly not finished.
Ashar Saeed, SCDOT’s resident construction engineer in charge of the project, said the lapse in work on Palmetto Bay Road is due to unpredictable weather that makes laying asphalt more difficult.
“The main reason is the restrictions on the weather,” he said in February. “They have to put asphalt down at a certain temperature.”
He said crews can’t lay asphalt if, among other things, the temperature isn’t consistently 50 degrees or higher. That means crews can rarely work between Dec. 15 and early spring.
The full project is due to be finished by April 1, just two weeks before thousands will visit the island’s south end via Palmetto Bay Road for the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing PGA Tour event in Sea Pines.
