HILTON HEAD ISLAND — Louise Miller Cohen waved to a tour bus as it passed by in a steady stream of traffic on Gumtree Road. The 80-year-old native islander was seated on the front porch of the Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island, a little blue house that holds piles of Gullah Geechee artifacts and records.
She pointed out a mulberry tree growing nearby and a trailer across the street that sits in the spot of the house she grew up in.
“This is the gateway to Hilton Head, through these Gullah Geechee communities, so why would you destroy this?” Cohen said.
The northern edge of Hilton Head is a patchwork of Gullah neighborhoods that for decades have weathered an explosion in development and the transit needs that followed — all demanded since the first bridge in the 1950s finally connected the island to the mainland. An upcoming expansion of the island’s major corridor has once again set its historically Black communities on the road to change.
Exactly what that change will look like is still being debated. Town officials are exploring four possibilities for an expansion within Hilton Head. Each varies in price, construction time and its impact on a long-standing community.
Corridor project
A trip to Hilton Head requires a drive along U.S. Highway 278 — and increasingly to bumper-to-bumper traffic. The corridor includes four bridges that connect the sea island to the mainland. The S.C. Department of Transportation has determined that the oldest of the four bridges needs to be replaced. The three others are not up to modern standards.
Beaufort County and state DOT are looking to address those concerns by making improvements to the U.S. 278 corridor between Bluffton and Hilton Head Island, from Moss Creek Drive to Spanish Wells Road. The main purpose of the project is to address structural deficiencies at the existing eastbound MacKay Creek bridge and reduce congestion while expanding the four-lane bridge to six lanes, according to the Department of Transportation.
For the project to move forward on Hilton Head Island, the town has to give municipal consent. Before doing so, town staff is considering multiple possibilities for the final mile stretch of the project within town limits.
In 2018, Beaufort County voters passed a 1 percent sales tax to “repair and/or replace the existing spans of the bridges to Hilton Head Island.” Beyond bringing the bridges up to date, an addition to the project aims to reduce gridlock along four miles of the highly trafficked highway. The method of how best to do that has been heavily debated within both the town and county.
In 2023, the town hired engineering and planning firm Lochmueller Group to develop options for the project’s last mile within Hilton Head’s town limits. For months, Lochmueller Group representatives have met with town staff and an independent review committee to narrow multiple possibilities down to four potential plans, called alternatives, for the William Hilton Parkway.
Each alternative carries a price tag higher than the state’s preferred option of $425 million. Beaufort County has secured $120 million from the State Infrastructure Bank in addition to $80 million raised through the sales tax. A significant contribution will also come from the S.C. Department of Transportation, though the Town of Hilton Head is likely on the hook for the additional funding needed to move the more expensive alternatives forward.
Anything beyond the funding of the current project as defined by the Department of Transportation, or by the county, would have to be found locally, said Shawn Colin, a senior advisor and the town’s project manager, during a committee meeting April 22.
The independent review committee is expected to vote on their preferred alternative soon, possibly at a May 8 meeting. Once an alternative is put forward, there will be a deeper look at traffic flow and community impacts. Then the decision will go before the Town Council, said Andrew Davis, a town spokesperson.
“There’s still discussions on all ends going, but the hope is that we’ll have this decided sooner rather than later,” Davis said.
Big Stoney
Big Stoney encompasses areas along U.S. 278 (William Hilton Parkway) from the causeway at Jenkins Island to Spanish Wells Road. It is both the first historic Gullah community island visitors encounter and the one most impacted by the proposed road expansion.
Hilton Head’s past is deeply intertwined with the history of Gullah people, just as Gullah-Geechee traditions are woven into the culture of the Lowcountry.
There was a time when almost every person living on Hilton Head Island was part of the Gullah community, but as development spread and tourism beckoned, the island’s Gullah neighborhoods shrunk and the price of living skyrocketed.
Traditional Gullah-Geechie communities of Hilton Head as seen on the north end of the island
In 1956, the year a bridge first connected the island to the mainland, roughly 3,500 acres of Hilton Head were Gullah owned. As of October 2023, that number was about 930 acres, estimates Luana Graves Sellars, a local advocate and leader of a nonprofit that works to preserve Gullah land and culture.
Hilton Head Island is a beautiful place because Gullah communities took care of it, Graves Sellars said.
“People come here because it’s a beautiful place,” she said, “but when the bulldozers want to come down 278, they’re taking away the land and the heritage and the livelihood of the people who have been here protecting the land.”
From her spot on the front porch of the Gullah museum, Cohen shared similar concerns.
“People are nervous and people are worried,” she said. “It’s changed from a one wagon road, to a two-lane highway. If you expand again through a historic neighborhood—what in the world does that look like? If it was a White neighborhood, it would not happen.”
Louise Cohen is a native of Hilton Head Island and the founder of the Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island. Cohen has been an outspoken advocate for the island’s historic Gullah neighborhoods.
A little over a mile from Cohen’s museum, Tim Singleton discussed the corridor project with cautious optimism. His restaurant, Ruby Lee’s, sits near U.S. 278 at 46 Old Wild Horse Rd. The joint offers soul food and live music, drawing in a diverse clientele of patrons young and old, Black and White, Singleton said.
Ruby Lee’s hasn’t been identified as being at risk of demolition because of the expansion, but like many other businesses in the area, Singleton is preparing for life after the massive transit project.
“There is hope,” Singleton said. “There is growth that we can’t stop, but that we would like to see and be a part of. I think it’s important that a decision is made with the best interest of everyone.”
Singleton said he has confidence in current town leaders to do right by the neighborhood. He hopes to see future efforts to beautify the area with more walkways, parks and economic opportunities—especially for Black business owners.
Tim Singleton is the owner of Ruby Lee’s, a Hilton Head Island restaurant named after his grandmother. Ruby Lee’s sits near the U.S. 278 Corridor in the historic Stoney community.
“It is time,” he said. “This new expansion, we can’t stop it. It’s time to make sure the families affected get what they need to sustain long term and it’s time for the neighborhood to move forward.”
Marissa Frazier hopes to see her family’s business Carolina Seafood Produce Market in operation for years to come regardless of the expansion.
The market sits on the edge of U.S. 278, beckoning passerby with crates of local vegetables and freezers of fresh seafood. Wesley Campbell, Frazier’s father, opened the stand in 1980.
Marissa Frazier watches over her family's store, Carolina Seafood Produce Market. The market sits on the edge of U.S. Highway 278 on Hilton Head Island.
“Life is gonna change, things are going to change, but I hope people continue to shop with us and we’re able to stay here for our community,” Frazier said.
The town has taken steps in recent years to better protect the island’s Gullah neighborhoods.
In 2017, officials created the Gullah-Geechee Land and Cultural Preservation Task Force, which includes native islanders and Planning Commission members all with a priority to protect Gullah land ownership.
In 2022, the town created an economic development corporation to promote economic growth in the Stoney neighborhood.
“There’s positive movement,” Graves Sellars said, “but there’s still a lot to be done.”
Four alternatives
As town staff and the independent review committee hear from the consultant on different alternatives, the hope is to impact the community as little as possible, Davis said.
Alternative One is the S.C. Department of Transportation’s recommended alternative with a few modifications. It calls for lane widening and street-level intersection improvements throughout the corridor.
The cost is estimated at $426 million.
Alternative Two would put roundabouts, or “bow ties” on Squire Pope and Spanish Wells Roads. The main intersection on William Hilton Parkway wouldn’t allow left turns, meaning drivers wanting to take a left would first take a right, traverse through a roundabout, and then proceed on through the intersection. This would reduce conflict points for potential collisions.
The cost of alternative two is estimated at $430 million.
Alternative Three explores the possibility of an echelon or a center turn overpass at either Spanish Wells or Squire Pope. Each would require elevated infrastructure. An echelon would place one intersection atop another, eliminating oncoming traffic for left turns and allowing vehicles more green-light time.
An overpass would elevate all turns, meaning drivers would go up a ramp to make a left turn.
The cost is estimated between $440 million and $450 million.
Alternative Four is an elevated bypass that would largely stay within the existing corridor, minimizing impacts to the Stoney community. The plan calls for an elevated four-lane bypass with two lanes in each direction. One lane would remain at ground level and serve the local traffic to Squire Pope and Spanish Wells.
The cost of alternative four is estimated at $545 million to $575 million.
Out of all four possibilities, alternatives two and three would have the greatest impact on the Stoney neighborhood. Once an alternative is chosen, the town will dig further into those impacts as well as how traffic will flow further down the William Hilton Parkway.
“Right now, the Gullah community is trying to hold onto what’s left of what they had,” Graves Sellars said. “Without the preservation of the culture and the preservation of all of the things that truly have made Hilton Head what it is, it won’t be the same place.”
