Hilton Head moves forward with 6-lane bridge plan (2024)

HILTON HEAD ISLAND— For the past few months, public conversation has swirled around the topic of the bridge: Will Town Council agree to the Beaufort County proposal on how to address the island's four aging spans?

A vocal group of residents, citing a petition with nearly 10,000 signatures, has urged the Town Council to continue to vote no.

These residents want to wait six to nine months until an independent consultant can further study the project's impacts and perhaps propose an alternative to the plan for a single, six-lane bridge. They also want residents to play a part in choosing the consultant and overseeing the study.

On Oct. 4, Town Council voted 4-3 on final approval to accept the latest memorandum of agreement. The vote will allow the six-lane bridge project to move forward with the funding that has already been secured.

Simultaneously, a group of three county staff and three town staff will hire and oversee a consultant to gather information about how the plans will impact traffic and refine the part of the project that is in Hilton Head's jurisdiction.

Residents can meet with the consultant and provide feedback.

Funding concerns

Formal discussions about the bridge have been underway since 2018, when county residents voted in favor of a penny tax to fund transportation improvements. Since then, about $299 million of the estimated $328 million for the project has been raised from a mix of county, town, federal and state sources.

At this week's Town Council meeting, state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, said that waiting for an independent consultant's review put the $120 million grant from the State Infrastructure Bank in jeopardy.

In addition, if Town Council did not approve the agreement now, County Council was prepared to debate reallocating the $80 million raised from the 2018 penny tax to other transportation projects approved by voters.

In a statement, the County Council noted that the S.C. Department of Transportation and Beaufort County have worked for five years and solicited public feedback to arrive at the six-lane bridge plan. An updated version included 21 of 26 recommendations from a Hilton Head-commissioned study.

The vote

Three members of Town Council were not persuaded to go along with the latest agreement, even with the possibility of losing funding.

Tamara Becker said that the council "shouldn't be shaking in our boots." Instead, she said it wasn't certain that the State Infrastructure Bank would withdraw the grant, or that a Hilton Head bridge project wouldn't qualify in the future.

Alex Brown questioned the premise that all four bridges needed to be replaced, instead of just the deficient one. "To replace everything was an idea cooked up in a back room," he said.

And David Ames said the "blunt force scale" of the proposed six-lane roadway was not in keeping with Hilton Head's environmentally sensitive, understated brand. He said he spoke for the many people who supported the penny tax: "This is not what we envisioned."

However, Glenn Stanford said he was not willing to put the SIB grant at risk.

Tom Lennox said he didn't think that if the grant funding were rescinded it could easily be obtained again. He also questioned whether additional public feedback on the committee would make it more effective, especially since public input had already been "immense."

Ultimately, Lennox said, "the risk of losing that $120 million and killing this project I think forever is unacceptable."

With one other council member, Bill Harkins, as well as Mayor John McCann voting yes, the motion carried.

Chris Ophardt, the public information officer for Beaufort County, emailed The Post and Courier in response to the vote.

“The county and the town will move forward building the most economical and environmentally feasible project that will benefit the residents of Hilton Head, the residents of Beaufort County, and the millions of visitors,” Ophardt wrote.

Fighting on

In the parking lot after the vote, residents who had come to express their disapproval of the bridge plan vowed to keep resisting.

"We're not giving up," said Tommy Reitz, a candidate for Beaufort County Council. He is running to represent District 11, which includes parts of Hilton Head Island. "The people have a voice and they're coming together. And we're going to stay strong and we're not going to back down."

Steve Baer, who started the bridge petition, also had his eye on the Nov. 8 election. "We've got to vote for candidates who supported the independent review," he said.

During public comments at the meeting, Baer questioned what happened to a proposal Davis laid out in April, which aimed to preserve the funding while conducting an independent review.

Davis, who has been shuttling between county and town meetings about the bridge, expressed frustration that the April agreement seemed to have dissolved.

Now that the decision had been made, he said he would respect the process. "I will work with them now as closely as I can to make sure this review process is meaningful ... and incorporated into whatever the bridge design is."

Although he had sat on the floor with his head in his hands at a Sept. 20 meeting about the bridge, Davis also offered a positive interpretation of the chaotic, sometimes disruptive nature of the debate.

"The whole state is proud of Hilton Head," he said. "You want to make sure that that first impression, that that gateway impression, is one that really impresses visitors and is one that residents can take pride in."

The fact that Hilton Head residents demand excellence is positive, Davis said. "This is why you have citizens so passionate and engaged. ... I mean, I would much rather that than apathy."