SC politician still favors park idea for Hilton Head bridges: ‘I’m going to push this’
A Lowcountry state representative is not giving up on his idea of building a massive park on the existing U.S. 278 bridges between Hilton Head Island and Bluffton.
“I’m going to push this,” said state Rep. Jeff Bradley, “until someone says, ‘No, you cannot do it.’”
Bradley’s remarks were prompted by an Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette article that was published online Saturday. The newspapers reported that local officials have recently indicated that the park idea is going nowhere.
This past summer, the S.C. Department of Transportation unveiled its plan to demolish the U.S. 278 bridges and build a new six-lane bridge just south of the highway’s current footprint.
Some island residents at the time argued that SCDOT should keep the old bridges in place and use them to create new bicycle and walking paths.
Bradley, R-Hilton Head, had originally pitched the idea in August 2020.
But Shawn Colin, senior adviser to Hilton Head’s town manager, recently said he believes that the town, Beaufort County and SCDOT agree that a “new bridge with bike and ped (pedestrian) facilities is a more cost-effective treatment for consideration.”
SCDOT in July said that its proposed six-lane bridge would include a 10-foot-wide bicycle and running trail along its southern edge.
The idea of building a park on the current bridges, which are owned by the state, has been “evaluated and vetted by all the project partners,” Colin said.
“The state would not object if the county or the town would like to take over ownership of that facility,” Colin said, but such a maneuver “would entail a significant ... ongoing annual maintenance budget” for local officials. He did not elaborate on those expected costs. Colin spoke during a virtual Q&A with the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.
Jared Fralix, assistant Beaufort County administrator, in a Friday interview also said the park is not expected to be built “at this time.”
Bradley, though, on Saturday argued that just because the town and county seem uninterested in his park idea does not mean that the concept has been completely rejected.
Another entity such as the National Park Service could take over the bridges to maintain the park, said Bradley, who was first elected to represent Hilton Head’s S.C. House district in 2014.
“I’ve been working behind the scenes trying to develop interest in this,” he said in an interview. “SCDOT is perfectly willing to work with us.”
Bradley said he recently discussed the matter with U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Charleston, in a phone call. There’s been no action yet based on their conversation, he said Tuesday.
“You don’t rush into these things all the time,” he said.
Bradley also has set up a nonprofit, the Calibogue Skyway Park Foundation, to raise money to promote the park idea, but the organization has not done much yet, he said.
The nonprofit was formed on Aug. 23, 2020, state records show. The organization did not have gross receipts greater than $50,000 last year, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
The state representative added that he believes the park concept will be reviewed during the design stage of the $290 million U.S. 278 project.
Craig Winn, the SCDOT project manager, previously told the newspapers that if the project were to enter the design stage this fall, the park idea could be discussed then.
Currently, SCDOT is preparing to respond to public comments about the project. The state agency still is seeking a Finding of No Significant Impact from the Federal Highway Administration — a document that explains how a construction project will not significantly impact the environment — so that it does not have to complete a time-consuming environmental impact statement for its U.S. 278 plan.
Pete Poore, an SCDOT spokesman, in a Tuesday statement wrote that SCDOT “regards the issue of the linear park to be a local decision. SCDOT stands ready to coordinate with the City and/or the County.”
The state has estimated that it will cost $6.6 million to demolish the existing bridges.
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 2:24 PM.
