Traffic alert: Lane closures near Hilton Head’s Cross Island Parkway next week
A construction project some thought stalled will pick up again next week.
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 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 down to one lane from March 29 through April 4, 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 the 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 months. Construction crews and equipment weren’t in the area, although the job was clearly not finished.
Crews were last on site March 2 for nightly lane closures.
Ashar Saeed, SCDOT’s resident construction engineer in charge of the project, said the lapse in work 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 was scheduled to be finished April 1 and in time for RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing PGA Tour event in Sea Pines, Saeed said, but the release said crews will still be paving until April 4.
Heritage, which was scheduled April 13 through April 19, has been canceled due to the coronavirus.
This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 10:33 AM.
