Choice was easy for firm to study Hilton Head bridge project. Only one wanted the job
Beaufort County has selected a firm — the only firm that submitted a proposal — to conduct a second independent study of the Highway 278 corridor project.
The review is part of an agreement between the county and Hilton Head Island to move forward on the project, which seeks to build a new bridge connecting Hilton Head Island to mainland Beaufort County. After years of disagreements, Beaufort County and the Town of Hilton Head Island agreed to work together last September.
As part of their agreement, one six-lane bridge would be built instead of the town’s proposed pair of three-lane bridges, and a second end-to-end study of the Highway 278 corridor would be performed.
The new review comes at the request of the town after residents and officials voiced their displeasure with the plan, believing it would worsen traffic getting onto the island.
“I think there’s gonna be some questions that are still out there in the community that will be answered,” said Assistant County Administrator Jared Fralix. “So we’ve expanded the scope to make sure the model can can display if there’s going to be traffic issues in the corridor, project limits or even beyond the corridor.”
About the firm
The study will be done by CBB Transportation Engineers and Planners, a traffic and transportation consulting firm from Missouri. The firm’s website shows a slew of different transportation projects and studies across its home state.
“Even though we had one offer, we felt like they are very qualified to do the proposed work,” said Fralix who added that CBB has done similar independent reviews.
Had officials not felt the firm was qualified, the search process could have been restarted, he said.
About the study
The study will cost the county nearly $200,000, which will come out of the existing project fund, and is expected to be completed in seven months. The project is expected to cost $328 million in total.
In order to stay on time and on budget, the study will be conducted concurrently with the project, for which planning is already underway.
If the study comes back with “meaningful changes” Fralix said, plans submitted to the Federal Highway Administration can be amended.
A six-person committee, half county officials and half town officials, is responsible for overseeing the procurement and administration of the independent review.
Under the agreement, this will be the final study performed by the county, but the Town of Hilton Head does not have to give municipal consent to any of its findings. That means when the study is completed and the bridge’s design is finalized, the town can decide whether it will back the project.
However, the town cannot “unreasonably hold” consent either. An example would be if all the town’s concerns are addressed by the study, yet consent is not given, said Fralix.
The Town of Hilton Head is having a separate study performed putting more emphasis on public input, something town officials, especially town councilwoman Tamara Becker, felt was missing from the county’s.
This story was originally published February 16, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
