“The penny sales tax has been a pay-as-you-go program, meaning that as funds became available, projects moved forward,” said County Council Chairman Weston Newton. However, the project is on track since the S.C. Department of Transportation awarded the county a $15 million grant earlier this year for the project. The money comes from the federal government but is administered by the state. “But for the funding issues, the flyover would have been built a number of years ago,” said Newton. “But now things are progressing. All of the federal permits are in place and $4 or $5 million has been spent to move utility lines to accommodate the flyover.” Newton said the county emergency management division and law enforcement were involved with the decision
to build the flyover and both were concerned about the need to reduce traffic on U.S. 278. The main considerations were congestion, safety and hurricane evacuation. “The traffic models show there will be a traffic reduction on U.S. 278 of up to 30 percent with the flyover,” said Beaty. “It will not only reduce congestion, it will increase safety and efficiency during a hurricane evacuation.” Newton echoed that point. “Public safety is paramount,” he said. “We need to make certain that we have a safe roadway system for visitors and residents. We need to make certain we have the infrastructure so that people are out of harm’s way.” One of the concerns raised about the flyover is the aesthetics of the project.
= existing U.S. 278 = route of flyovers
“A few of the residents from Buckingham Landing came to the public hearing and voiced concerns about the visual impact of placing a bridge over the marsh,” said Beaty. “But other comments were positive about less traffic on 278.” The Town of Hilton Head Island approved of the project under the condition that aesthetics would be taken into account. “The same concerns were raised when the Cross Island Parkway was
built,” said Newton. “These are legitimate concerns about impacting the beauty of the Lowcountry, but attention will be paid to aesthetics during the construction project. And I think these aesthetic issues can be minimized, such as they were when the bridge on U.S. 278 was built at Sun City and there was extensive landscaping done there.” Meanwhile, a separate portion of the extension of the Bluffton Parkway — from Burnt Church Road to Malphrus Road — opened in late April.
May 2012
MAY 12 10-19 Vibe .indd 11
11
4/24/12 6:22:02 PM