Hilton Head council cannot veto proposed 6-lane US 278 bridge, DOT says. What to know
The Hilton Head Island Town Council cannot veto the state’s proposal to build a new six-lane bridge between Bluffton and Jenkins Island, according to the S.C. Department of Transportation.
SCDOT spokesman Pete Poore in a Tuesday statement clarified that the town does not have an official say on any part of the U.S. 278 project outside of its municipal limits.
The news is a blow to local critics of the U.S. 278 project and to three Town Council members who have recently opposed parts of SCDOT’s favored $290 million plan for the highway. It’s also counter to what many residents following the project have long believed: If the town opposed the plan to replace the U.S. 278 bridges, the state would have to go back to the drawing board.
In fact, Poore wrote, Beaufort County needs the town only to sign a document consenting to proposed U.S. 278 construction within the town limits and outside of the approaches to the new bridge.
The existing bridges, Poore wrote, do not cross into the town limits on Jenkins Island.
State law notes that, “All work to be performed by the Department (SCDOT) on state highways within a municipality must be with the consent and approval of the proper municipal authorities.”
Shawn Colin, senior adviser to Hilton Head’s town manager, weighed in on Monday.
“I think where we’re going to end up,” Colin said, “is that the town has control within the municipal boundaries, but there’s no local consent required outside of the municipal boundaries. The bridge is outside of the boundary.”
The town still has to provide consent for SCDOT to widen U.S. 278 to six lanes in the historic Stoney community. The town also must provide consent for SCDOT to change major island intersections like Squire Pope Road-U.S. 278.
Could the Town Council refuse to support SCDOT’s proposed highway widening on Hilton Head and subsequently derail the plan to build a new six-lane bridge onto Jenkins Island?
Even if that is technically possible, a majority of council members on Sept. 13 appeared to support a tentative counter to the SCDOT plan that also endorses six lanes of traffic. The issue did not come up at a Tuesday afternoon council meeting.
‘Act now’
The U.S. 278 project’s municipal consent process has been a confusing, hot-button issue for years.
In early 2020, Patsy Brison, co-founder of the Coalition of Island Neighbors, told the Town Council to “act now before SCDOT sets in stone” its favored construction plan.
“You have veto power over SCDOT projects. Please use it,” Brison said at the time.
Council reaction
Town Council members have recently started to address the issue in public.
Tamara Becker, the Ward 4 representative, during a Sept. 20 meeting expressed frustration and said “we were told” that the town would have “some say” in whether the deficient bridge over Mackay Creek would be replaced, rebuilt or expanded.
“Now, it seems as though that in fact isn’t really true. The bridge is out of our control. Anything out of the town limits,” Becker said.
Mayor John McCann, meanwhile, in an interview last week with WHHI-TV said “there are some things that definitely we can’t do.”
“The bridges are not in our control at all. We have input into it ‘cause they come to Hilton Head. The light at Windmill Harbour is not in our control, but we have input ‘cause it comes into Hilton Head,” McCann said.
