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Planning commission recommends Buckwalter Parkway access-management update, asks staff to coordinate with Bluffton
Summary
Beaufort County Planning Commission recommended County Council approve a 2026 update to the Buckwalter Parkway access management plan, endorsing signal-spacing and cross-access policies while asking staff to coordinate the proposal with the Town of Bluffton before codification.
Beaufort County Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that County Council adopt a text amendment updating access management standards for Buckwalter Parkway, a 4.4-mile county arterial that carries about 20,000 vehicles per day.
Planning Director Robert introduced the amendment and described access management as a suite of smaller projects—signal spacing, connected development, shared driveways and intersection improvements—that together can improve mobility and safety. "We have to balance impervious surface and environmental concerns with safety and congestion relief," Robert said. Kevin Sullivan, Beaufort County Engineering’s transportation planner, described the update as a 2026 corridor ride update that modifies several proposed signal locations from the 2021 plan and recommends new signal locations and cross-connections where appropriate.
Traffic engineer Jennifer Beal (Beal Engineering) summarized the plan as a framework to set expectations for logical signal locations, cross-access and right-in/right-out treatments; she emphasized that site-specific traffic impact analyses and environmental permitting would govern final designs. Commissioners asked how wetlands and federal/state signal warrants could change designs; staff said environmental review and traffic warrants remain part of project-level implementation.
Commission member John moved that the commission recommend approval of the Buckwalter Parkway text amendment (KCDPA 000059-2026) with the condition that works department staff coordinate with the Town of Bluffton (staff or council as appropriate) to ensure the town has sufficient opportunity to review before the amendment goes to County Council. The motion was seconded, carried unanimously, and the recommendation will proceed to County Council.
Staff said the AMP is intended as a high-level planning tool and will be refined through TIAs, design, and permitting. Commissioners asked staff to continue coordination with municipal counterparts and regional traffic modeling as the plan is implemented.
