Hilton Head officials are running out of time to decide on US 278 corridor project (2024)

HILTON HEAD ISLAND — After years of discussions, hundreds of hours in meetings and hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting fees, Hilton Head has yet to take significant steps forward on a massive transportation project that is being prompted by an aging and decaying bridge to the island.

Time constraints are putting pressure on town council to either approve or deny a memorandum of agreement for the U.S. 278 corridor project. If they don’t make a decision soon, one may be made for them.

The project’s environmental assessment, which is good for three years, is set to expire at the end of June. Millions in funding secured by state Sen. Tom Davis from the S.C. Transportation Infrastructure Bank may soon be revoked and reallocated to a project with a better chance of moving forward.

And the S.C. Department of Transportation will soon be obligated to address the deficiencies of the Mackay Creek bridge, leaving behind the rest of the proposed project.

In an hours-long meeting June 20, Mayor Allan Perry and Davis outlined the multiple approaching deadlines. Perry read to council members a letter he received from DOT Secretary Justin Powell shortly before the meeting.

“Should the town not approve municipal consent in a timely manor, SCDOT will be prepared to use those funds allocated for the project and proceed with a project focused solely on the U.S. 278 eastbound bridge,” Powell wrote.

Perry said that a vote on municipal consent is a difficult decision for town council, but that “delaying the vote is policy by inaction.”

“We can’t operate by inaction; we can only operate from action,” Perry said. “I was elected to be the mayor of this town by the people of this town. I knew this project was going to be very challenging.”

The project has taken many conceptual forms over the years. Its most pressing purpose is the replacement of the structurally deficient eastbound Mackay bridge. Through partnership with the DOT, Beaufort County and Hilton Head Island, the proposed project grew into an ambitious reimagining of the main corridor onto Hilton Head. As it’s envisioned today, a six-lane bridge would be built to replace the system of four bridges that lead to and from the island.

DOT built the Mackay bridge in 1956 and widened it in 1984.

The state agency inspects all bridges in South Carolina at least every two years. Due to the age and condition of the MacKay bridge, DOT inspects it annually, Powell wrote.

The last inspection was completed Jan. 12. It rated the structure and substructure as “poor.” While the bridge is safe to drive over, it is approaching the end of its life and has been placed on a statewide priority list.

Consideration of a vote to draft a memorandum of agreement was initially set for a special council meeting June 20. A few days before the meeting, the item was removed from the agenda.

Instead, council members, town staff and residents had yet another wide-ranging discussion on how to move forward and what stipulations to include in reaching an agreement.

That discussion, with public input, lasted more than four hours. It followed another meeting earlier in the week that ran on for six hours. Discussions about the project have been ongoing for seven years.

Through the project, Beaufort County and the DOT aim to make improvements to the U.S. 278 corridor between Bluffton and Hilton Head Island, from Moss Creek Drive to Spanish Wells Road. While the main purpose is to address structural deficiencies with the Mackay bridge, the town also wants to reduce congestion.

Town staff and elected officials are still considering four options for the final mile stretch of the project within town limits.

The new six-lane bridge and accompanying changes would address multiple issues: It would be better equipped to withstand hurricanes, add a pedestrian and bike path on and off the island, bypass the inevitable replacement or rehabilitation of the other three bridges, and would allow a significant allocation of funding for the town to address congestion issues on the island.

The project also brings challenges. A historic Gullah neighborhood would be impacted, the size of the new bridge has been criticized by residents and the funding of the project, though mostly covered, may require significant contribution from the town depending on which option, or alternative, is selected for work on the William Hilton Parkway. Town officials last year hired engineering and planning firm Lochmueller Group to help with the process.

DOT found that its modified proposal, known as Alternative 1, remains the most feasible. It calls for lane widening and street-level intersection improvements throughout the corridor and carries a cost estimate of $426 million.

With help from Davis, Beaufort County has secured $120 million from the state infrastructure bank in addition to $80 million raised through a 1 percent sales tax voters passed in 2018 to “repair and/or replace the existing spans of the bridges to Hilton Head Island.” DOT has also pledged more than $74 million.

If municipal consent isn’t given by June 28, it becomes difficult to hold onto the $120 million that was granted to Beaufort County for this particular project, Davis told council members.

“I don’t say that to say that you should or should not give consent, I’m just giving you what I perceive to be the consequences of that,” the Beaufort Republican lawmaker said.

If council members vote against approval of the memorandum, DOT would likely move forward on its own, replacing or rehabilitating the Mackay bridge and eventually the other three bridges.

In the coming days, town staff will draft a memorandum of agreement that includes conditions set by council members. A vote has not been scheduled.

“The action we’re about to consider is a once-in-a-lifetime decision about the future of Hilton Head Island,” said Councilmember Patsy Brison. “As an elected member of town council, I feel the weighty responsible to be very deliberate remembering all the people in the community we share and to be a steward of the place we call home.”