Beaufort County Council in Hilton Head Island, S.C., reached a consensus on a new renovation plan for Highway 278 Tuesday evening, following years of debate on the matter.
The council voted 8-2 to approve an amendment that allows the renovation to proceed, contingent upon approval from the South Carolina State Infrastructure Bank (SIB), after a lengthy period of public commentary.
State Senator Tom Davis (SC-46) explained that the approved plan includes the construction of a new three-lane, eastbound-only bridge starting at Moss Creek, running parallel to the south of the current eastbound span toward Pinckney Island, and continuing with three lanes all the way to Windmill Harbor.
However, the plan that passed hasn’t always been the primary option.
After the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) deemed the Mackay Bridge “structurally deficient” several years ago, Beaufort County began questioning whether additional changes should be made to Corridor 278 to alleviate traffic.
“The initial design that was put forth by DOT back in 2022 had three lanes in each direction in one span,” Sen. Davis said. “The breakdown lanes, the shoulders. You had 11 lanes and a massive structure coming over. We heard the people of Hilton Head saying they don’t want that.”
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Though, many residents at the meeting still weren’t pleased with the compromise.
Almost everyone who got up to speak was armed with a different vision for the Highway 278 and some blamed the council directly for the lack of movement on the project.
“The voters simply do not trust you,” one member of the public said.
Some members of council weren’t convinced either and advocated for the option to scrap the proposed plan and fix the failing bridge only.
“I think we better vote no on this tonight. I can’t see burdening the taxpayer with the overage,” Beaufort County Council member Thomas Reitz said.
According to the Beaufort County Council, the plan under the new amendment is expected to cost about $311 million, and there is a 20% contingency built into the plan to guard against overrun. At Tuesday’s meeting, the council said the SCDOT will also cover 30% of any overage costs.
However, Beaufort County will be responsible for any other overrun costs, and the county will also be held responsible to repay $120 million to SIB if they don’t complete the new construction on time.
The amendment is a revised version of a plan that was passed by County Council but denied by the SIB board earlier this month.
“To Beaufort they said, we see what you’re submitting here,” Davis said. “We have these concerns, we’re going to submit it back to you, come back to us with a modified proposal. So, what the last two weeks have been all about is looking what the SIB’s concerns were. Coming together with this proposal that was taken up tonight that they’ve indicated is acceptable.”
Negotiations with the SIB board will still need to happen in order for the council’s voted plan to be approved officially.
