Hilton Head faces Friday deadline to approve U.S. 278 bridge plan, but will they vote?

The Hilton Head Island Town Council scheduled a meeting to continue the conversation about whether to give the go-ahead for the entire U.S. 278 corridor project or risk losing project funding by letting its environment assessment expire that same day.

Town council’s special meeting is at 10 a.m. on June 28.

The special meeting doesn’t have an attached agenda, and the town must give at least 24 hours of public notice before holding any vote. The process in which the town would permit the South Carolina Department of Transportation to move forward with the project is called municipal consent.

If the town gives the department municipal consent, it must do so before the environmental assessment, which expires June 28. If the town doesn’t hold a vote, it’s likely the same outcome as a “no” vote on municipal consent. The town could ask for an extension of the environmental assessment, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but there is no guarantee it would grant one.

Without municipal consent, the town risks SCDOT solely addressing the deteriorating bridge over Mackay Creek and abandoning the larger U.S. 278 plan. The larger plan is estimated at $488 million, according to Town Council member Patsy Brison at a June 20 meeting.