Council reviews William Hilton Parkway Gateway Corridor master plan; public urges prioritizing Spanish Wells and Squire Pope intersection fixes

Consultants presented a draft William Hilton Parkway Gateway Corridor Master Plan at a Hilton Head Island workshop on April 28, outlining design concepts for Jenkins Island, the Stoney historic neighborhood, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and intersection improvements targeted at Spanish Wells/Wild Horse and Squire Pope intersections.

"This isn't just a highway out in a rural setting," Brian Kinzelman of MKSK told the council, emphasizing the plan's intent to respect neighborhood character while improving safety and mobility. The consultants broke the corridor into incremental projects (A through H) and provided a planning-level total of roughly $122 million for the proposed package.

Why it matters: the plan aims to address both immediate safety problems and longer-term corridor function on the approach to Hilton Head Island. Jonathan Guy of Kimley-Horn summarized crash data that motivated the proposals: "In this segment, we have had 6 fatalities, 2 of those being pedestrians. We've had 81 major injury crashes." Consultants proposed baseline, low-cost improvements for Spanish Wells/Wild Horse and a continuous green T for Squire Pope with a pedestrian bridge to remove at-grade crossings; longer-term options include an east-west flyover that would eliminate the signal at Spanish Wells.

Public and council reaction: multiple residents urged the council to prioritize near-term intersection fixes. Don Furtado said the acceleration lane off Squire Pope is too short and causes backups; Skip Hoglund and others urged improved access to Pinckney Island and emphasized bridge replacement safety. Several speakers, including engineer Steve Baer and Richard Bussey, asked for stronger quantitative evidence (peak-hour analysis, traffic simulation and throughput metrics) to justify the estimates and sequencing. Bussey also raised concerns about transparency and process, alleging rolling quorums during development of prior work (an allegation the council did not adjudicate at the workshop).

Council direction and funding discussion: council members repeatedly identified Spanish Wells and Squire Pope as high priorities for safety and recommended staging the program so that lower-cost, high-benefit intersection treatments proceed quickly. Members discussed funding tools including bonding, tax increment financing (TIF), state delegation requests and potential referendum items. Town staff said they would bring back a refined prioritization and a funding strategy in roughly 60–90 days; staff reported a recent call with SCDOT leadership that expressed conceptual support but cautioned that detailed design and permitting would reveal additional constraints.

Next steps: the consultant team and staff will refine traffic analysis and cost details, and the town manager was asked to prepare a funding and implementation roadmap that identifies which projects can be delivered with the town's resources and where county, state or federal funds may be required. Council members signaled willingness to fund early intersection work in the $15–$25 million range while advancing design on larger elements.

No final votes were taken; the workshop produced direction for staff to return with a prioritized, fundable work plan and further analysis.