Work begins on road to connect Westbury, Plantation Business parks [The Beaufort Gazette, S.C.]

Aug. 27--Construction workers have cleared a path through the woods in Bluffton for a new section of frontage road connecting Westbury Park to Plantation Business Park.

Beaufort County officials expect the two-lane, 200-yard stretch from Westbury Parkway East to Plantation Park Drive to be completed in February.

The project still must clear two minor hurdles, said Rob McFee, county director of engineering and infrastructure.

One is meeting the Army Corps of Engineers requirements for a culvert that must be installed under the new road to channel water in a small freshwater creek.

Two sections of road are planned, totaling .459 miles at a cost $1,017,385, and will also connect with Simmonsville Road.

The link will create a longer frontage road intended to reduce traffic on U.S. 278, which county traffic engineer Colin Kintonsaid should be a thoroughfare for traffic going to and from Hilton Head Island.

Mark Kratochvil, the owner of Dan's Fan City in the Plantation Business Park, said he doesn't think the frontage road will help the traffic on U.S. 278. He's part of a group that includes the park's developer and owner, Jerry Sarlos, advocating a traffic signal at the intersection of U.S. 278 and the entrance to Plantation Business Park.

A sign reading, "We need a stoplight" sits near that intersection now, and 1,000 signatures have been collected on a petition supporting the light. The S.C. Department of Transportationrejected the idea, saying traffic volume wasn't high enough to justify it County officials said they have had no further discussions with the group advocating the light.

Jim Moore and Jeremiah Howard, owners of Supercycles & ATV in the business park, have a different view. They said they never wanted a light at the intersection and are confident the new road will improve business and traffic safety.

"If the public perceives it as safer, then it's always better for business," he said. "Right now, the public perception is it's a dangerous intersection."

Kinton said left turns out of Plantation Business Park onto U.S. 278 won't be allowed after the highway is widened to six lanes from Simmonsville Road to S.C. 170. That project is scheduled to start in November. Left turns into the park from U.S. 278 still will be allowed.

The road is the second of seven planned frontage road projects from The Gatherings, opposite Moss Creek, to Graves Road, near U.S. 278's intersection with S.C.170. A section of frontage road connecting Buckingham Plantation Drive East to nearby Salt Marsh Drive was completed in January.

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