‘Policy by inaction’? What happens if Hilton Head doesn’t give OK for U.S. 278 bridge

For months now, commuters who traverse the U.S. 278 bridge from Bluffton’s mainland to Hilton Head Island have heard the oft-repeated two words: “municipal consent.” The very parliamentary-sounding phrase represents how the Hilton Head Island Town Council needs to vote to give the South Carolina Department of Transportation the go-ahead for the entire U.S. 278 corridor project. The construction project aims to alleviate the endless congestion motorists currently endure.

Town Council could also vote not to give municipal consent. In that case, what happens next?

If the Town Council votes against municipal consent or takes no action before June 28, when the project’s environmental assessment expires, South Carolina Transportation Infrastructure Bank could revoke the $120 million allocated to the project. Mayor Alan Perry called this “policy by inaction” in a June 20 town workshop. Either way, a lack of municipal consent would force SCDOT to abandon the larger project and solely fix or replace a section of the bridge.

At that point, fixing the deteriorating bridge over Mackay Creek, which was built in 1956, wouldn’t be part of a larger plan. Therefore, “SCDOT will be prepared to use those funds allocated for the project and proceed with a project focused solely on the U.S. 278 eastbound bridge,” Perry said, reading a letter from SCDOT Secretary Justin Powell.

The letter said that SCDOT would evaluate whether rehabilitation or replacement would be most cost-effective and develop a project accordingly. The SCDOT said the bridge is safe to drive over but during a Jan 12. inspection it rated the structure and substructures a four out of a nine, or “poor,” according to Perry.

“We have an opportunity to have a voice,” Perry said at the workshop. “Whether it’s yea or nay, but we have an opportunity to have a voice. (...) We need to have policy by action, not inaction.”

The Town Council removed the municipal consent decision from a June 20 agenda earlier this week, giving council members and the community more time to respond to a recommendation made by town-hired consultants on June 17, but delaying the vote. The recommendation is a version of a six-lane bridge that would replace the current four-lane bridges that connect Hilton Head to the mainland. The Town Council doesn’t have a vote scheduled on upcoming meeting agendas.

The $120 million from the S.C. South Carolina Transportation Infrastructure Bank could be reallocated to a different project, Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, said at the beginning of an over four-hour-long town workshop June 20.

“The infrastructure bank is under a lot of pressure to utilize funds in their possession and actually begin construction on projects,” Davis said.

The town could attempt to obtain an extension of the environmental assessment, he said, but there is no guarantee of an approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The National Environmental Policy Act requires an environmental assessment to evaluate potential natural and human environmental impacts.