Rebuttal to Chairman Passiment’s 278 Statement

County Chairman Passiment’s Sept 12, 2022 Highway 278 Bridge Statement is a sad example of the lack of understanding of Corridor issues by the County Council and/or of deliberately one-sided propaganda. 

At the core of the problem is that County Council leadership refuses to do its homework, and has worked hard over the years to avoid doing the Due Diligence taxpayers require and expect. They place our future and funds under the control of a member (Stu Rodman) who they let act as a CORRIDOR CZAR to lead this project. They themselves demoted Mr. Rodman for numerous unethical actions including using secret meetings, private emails, and intimidation to influence the project. He is distrusted by his own constituents, five prior councilpersons, and the Press. Nowhere in Chairman Passiment’s message is this mentioned. 

Nor does Chairman Passiment mention that the Council’s attempt to retroactively reduce the scope of the Corridor promises made in a previous Tax Referendum is probably illegal, will delay the project, and destroy public trust for upcoming Tax Referendums. 

Not only do these ethical problems exist, but there are severe engineering, impact, cost, and performance issues that he also ignores. Let us examine some facts and history:

The entrance to Hilton Head has well-known traffic congestion at peak times, and one of its 4 bridge spans is nearing the end of its useful life. To address these problems, the (roughly 4-mile) Corridor Project was proposed. However, as Citizens have reported for years, that project ends at Spanish Wells Road and misses several major congestion sources by about 2000 feet (Figure 1). 

Many Citizens view SCDOT’s plans, which will heavily impact local communities and add even more vehicles to the already congested area, as inadequate because they deliberately avoid studying the end-end paths (A-D and A-E) that include the congesting 2000 feet. Thus, it is highly probable that this project will bring massive pain, without any commensurate gain in congestion improvement!

Corridor discussion (including Chairman Passiment’s) continues to incorrectly focus mainly on the bridges, but the real issue is Beaufort County’s refusal to prove that their massive 1/3 Billion Dollar project will work to reduce congestion and provide an improvement on the ignored paths A-D and A-E. 

This could easily have been dealt with. In 2020, Citizens arranged for an end-end Independent Review (IR) of SCDOT’s plans including the missing 2000 feet, but Councilman Rodman unethically manipulated Council into misdirecting that plan, resulting in wasted time and consulting dollars. This is well-documented in Rodman’s own words via a leaked document.

In 2022, with the aid of an over 9000-person Petition, and much help from Senator Davis, the IR was revived. (That is likely a larger protest group than any County Project has ever seen, is larger than the vote count for anyone on County Council, and many times larger than the protests County Council does listen to from other parts of the County.)  SCDOT agreed to provide the funding and time, and Town Council approved it. That was a no-lose opportunity to finally see a complete and accurate picture of congestion, needed work, and options to fix the Corridor problem.

But Rodman, claiming speed as a motivation, and ignoring the massive delay he caused starting in 2020, manipulated Council and the public once again. This time they want to partition the project to not only ignore the missing 2000 feet, but also start it while ignoring an even larger part - everything past Windmill Harbor (Figure 2). 

They are taking a highly complex interrelated problem and sub-optimizing it into individual pieces without the needed end-end analysis. Citizens believe this may prematurely force us into the wrong plan leading to lost opportunities, wasted time, and costs. It may also use up all/most funds on the bridges, including their bike paths and observation platforms, with insufficient funds left to address our real congestion problems. It may also set off alarms in the required Federal approval process.

This is a 1/3 Billion Dollar project. Why would the County work so hard over 2 years to suppress the needed end-end Independent Review, including the 2000 missing feet of major congestion? 

If safety was an issue, work on the aging bridge span could have begun years ago. The answer is that there are missing and hidden parts and agendas that some in the County don’t want taxpayers to know about. A Rodman document discovered in a Freedom of Information search supports that view. 

Many believe that a key hidden agenda is to increase tourist capacity onto HHI as a Fait Accompli while shoving hidden problems and costs under the rug into the future. The leader of that effort, including the 2020 IR derailment, and all independent end-end analyses since then, is Rodman, who is also a member (and ex-Chairman) of a secretive lobbying group with strong ties to the Chamber of Commerce. 

The County’s Resolution is a push to increase capacity but sub-optimize everything else without an overall plan. It shoves known problems under the rug and subverts Due Diligence before construction. Challenges based on its many flaws will delay the project rather than expedite it. 

An infrastructure investment of this size and a traffic congestion problem of this magnitude requires in-depth end-end analysis. It should be viewed as an opportunity to greatly improve our congestion problem and environment rather than brushing aside all sophistication to rush to spend all/most of the funds on a bridge that may not work, may not meet the community’s concerns and may displace elements that could work. 

The arrogance shown by the County leadership (including a previous Ultimatum to the Town) is a blatant example of an administration ignoring its fundamental responsibility – Due Diligence. The fastest way to a good Corridor plan is the Independent Review, which Citizens have requested for 2 years. It will look at the actual problem area to show what can be done to deal with the issues. If the County is correct, the review will quickly verify it. Why are they so afraid of that review? 

It is unfortunate that the County continues to let its CORRIDOR CZAR subvert and destroy a legitimate Independent Review of this 1/3 Billion Dollar project. 

Instead of putting out flawed propaganda, County Council needs to do its homework and support proper  Due Diligence, including working cooperatively with the Town and Citizen groups to get the Independent Review done rapidly. That will finally put this project back on the proper track from which its CORRIDOR CZAR derailed us 2 years ago.

Please help us restore science, ethics, and fair play to this project. Please tell your friends to sign our petition. This will give us more traction at Federal and local levels.

Steve Baer for the Technical Working Group (TWG) and many, many others