Hilton Head’s first chance to learn about US 278 construction plan delayed again. Why?
Hilton Head Island won’t learn the plan for its U.S. 278 corridor until July, according to town officials.
The community was supposed to be told in September 2020 of the S.C. Department of Transportation’s preferred alternative for the corridor. Then the date of the public hearing of the project was delayed until March, then May, and now summer 2021.
This delay is to coordinate the preferred alternative with two related pieces: an independent engineering study of the area and a land plan for the historic Stoney community at the base of the bridges.
Town Council members approved of the flexibility in presenting the preferred alternative. They have, in the past, been concerned that if SCDOT presents the plan too early, the independent review and land planning efforts will be rendered useless.
After the public hearing, SCDOT will revise the plan. Shawn Colin, the town’s director of community development, has taken the lead on the project and said Wednesday that revisions and reviews usually take about three months following the public presentation.
A changing timeline
Meanwhile, the town has launched an all-out effort to prepare the sole entry and exit point for the $240 million construction project.
Town leaders have heard updates twice this month from SCDOT, its independent engineering firm and its internal land planning staff. All three entities appeared to have different timelines for revamping four miles of U.S. 278, the island’s largest infrastructure project this decade.
The date that determines the project’s timeline is whenever the “preferred alternative” — SCDOT’s plan for the area that stretches from Moss Creek to the entrance to the Cross Island Parkway — is announced.
At the same time, an independent engineering firm hired by the town and Beaufort County is reviewing SCDOT’s methodology and alternatives to make sure it didn’t miss anything. The firm is working with an oversight committee of residents and has analyzed other alternatives, funding, traffic data and whether the demand for U.S. 278 will grow as SCDOT expects it to.
HDR, the firm contracted by the county to review all the plans and information, expects to have a draft report by the end of March, Phillip Hutcherson told the council earlier this month.
The town has also hired Greenville-based firm MKSK to help design an entrance to the island that is welcoming to drivers and less intrusive to the businesses and families who own property at the base of the bridge in the historic Gullah Stoney community.
On March 10, SCDOT presented renderings of potential signage and a pavilion for the Stoney community, which MKSK will refine in the land plan.
