Where are we on the 278 Corridor Project and What Can we Learn from it?
Where are we on the 278 Corridor Project and What Can we Learn from it?
Below is a very brief overview of where we are, based on 8 years of watching/studying/participating in Corridor affairs and 6 ½ years of being on Beaufort County Council.
My overall observation is that Beaufort County Council and staff lack the ability: to plan and manage large complex projects and our tax funds, to wisely and scientifically supervise SCDOT, and to honor citizen inputs.
As a result, the Corridor project, which in SCDOT’s exact words was to: “…address structural deficiencies at the existing eastbound Mackay Creek bridge and reduce congestion along US 278 from Moss Creek Drive to Spanish Wells Road” became bloated, delayed and inflated into an 11 lane mega-bridge including one or more observation platforms, a 14 foot bike path, and a possible fishing pier and linear park, until it ran out of money and was replaced. That replacement covered at least the safety aspects of the one aging span, but added a second span and used up all the funds aimed to reduce congestion along US 278 from Moss Creek Drive to Spanish Wells Road.
In effect, Hilton Head congestion relief was sacrificed, and became even worse with the addition of a third traffic light. In my opinion, contributing causes were lack of end-end planning by the SCDOT/County, including efficient links to/from the Cross Island Parkway (CIP), lack of understanding of the impact of traffic lights, and bias by County Council leaders including Rodman, Passiment, McElynn who dictatorially turned off citizen input in order to push the mega-bridge vision. That biased County leadership also played into the vacuum created by the Town’s lack of a Master Plan for the HHI part of the Corridor. Basically, the Town just seemed to follow the flawed County leadership.
Recently, HH Town Council appears to have recognized the need for their own Master Plan, including becoming more open minded on the value of well-designed and beautiful overpasses as a means of mitigating congestion and improving safety at our complex intersections and traffic lights. That is a good sign, perhaps caused by the fact that they noticed that HHI contributed much to the County Sales Tax fund, but received little in return. Meanwhile the County/SCDOT are moving ahead with the 2 eastbound spans to Windmill Harbor that replaced their mega-bridge plan.
Recently, the County proposed a new 2026 $780 million 8-Year Sales Tax Referendum to fund 66 new road projects. They are in the final stages of using public funds to ‘educate’ us about it, since the use of such funds to ‘advocate’ for a Yes vote would violate State ethics laws. I wonder if their ‘education’ effort will include telling us of risks, based on their past performance project managing and delivering on a smaller number of 2018 projects?
The above is documented history. Here are my opinions, based on what I have learned:
1 – Due to the County planning and project management failures on the Corridor project, I cannot understand how they can manage their new 66 project $780 million wish list. It needs to be much better defined and taken in much smaller bites. Thus, I would vote AGAINST the upcoming 2026 Sales Tax Referendum.
2 – The hub of the flawed County leadership on the Corridor project was Stu Rodman in District 11, who was finally replaced by Tom Reitz 3 ½ years ago. Reitz is doing a terrific job, including finally honoring citizen inputs. I cannot understand why anyone would run against him, except perhaps to restore the old County dictatorship machine. The fact that Passiment and McElynn just endorsed Reitz’s opponent supports that nightmare.
Steven M. Baer June 2, 2026