Letter: How to help Hilton Head’s morning commuters
Traffic used to be the same from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. coming onto Hilton Head Island as it was going off Hilton Head from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. So why is it easier to get off Hilton Head now in the afternoon?
Because everything is not bottlenecked at a traffic light.
The short-term answers:
Three-lane U.S. 278 from Windmill Harbour to the Squire Pope Road light. That would get 50 percent more people through the light on each light cycle.
Change the Squire Pope Road light cycle from 3 minutes to 5 minutes or longer during the morning rush hour from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.
In conclusion, there are other solutions to help traffic besides having a bridge with three lanes in each direction that will still bottleneck at a traffic light.
Michael Chapman
Bluffton
This story was originally published May 3, 2017 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Letter: How to help Hilton Head’s morning commuters."