In 2021, the state's plan for US 278 would have taken away the left turn onto Squire Pope Road. In 2026, the Town's plan keeps that turn and lets island-bound traffic pass through without stopping for it. If you drive home from the bridge toward Hilton Head Plantation's Cypress Gate, that one intersection has been redrawn on paper three times in five years.
On September 15, 2026, Hilton Head Island Town Council voted unanimously to adopt the William Hilton Parkway Gateway Corridor Master Plan. The plan covers the stretch of US 278 from the foot of the Jenkins Island bridge through the Stoney Historic Neighborhood to Spanish Wells Road and Wild Horse Road. That stretch is how the north end of the island gets on and off. Squire Pope Road, the road to Cypress Gate and to Hudson's Seafood House on the Docks, is near the middle of it.
Five years, three versions of one turn
The history explains why this matters to Hilton Head Plantation in particular.
- July 2021. The South Carolina Department of Transportation released a construction plan for US 278 that would have eliminated the left turn from eastbound 278 onto Squire Pope Road. Drivers would have made a U-turn at a redesigned Old Wild Horse intersection about 0.2 miles east, then come back and turned right onto Squire Pope. The Island Packet reported that the proposal had "already drawn the attention of the Hilton Head Plantation property owners' association." SCDOT's project manager said the change would be safer and would limit how much land the project took from the historic Stoney community.
- Summer 2021. In a June 8 letter, POA board president Jon Heron objected to planning that focused only on moving traffic to the south end. He asked that turns serving residents, workers and commercial traffic get priority, and that grade-separated intersections be considered. At a public hearing that year, general manager Peter Kristian also criticized the U-turn routing, according to another Island Packet report.
- February 2022. SCDOT's modified preferred alternative brought the turn back as two eastbound left-turn lanes onto Squire Pope, The Island Packet reported.
- October 2025. The state's project got smaller. The current US 278 Eastbound Bridge Replacement is a single two-lane bridge over Mackay and Skull Creeks, built wide enough to restripe to three lanes later. Its study area ends at C Heinrichs Circle by Windmill Harbour. It explicitly excludes "dual left-turn lanes from US 278 onto Squire Pope Road" and any left-turn restrictions on the island.
- September 2026. The Town adopted its own corridor plan, and Squire Pope is one of its five near-term priorities.
Step four decides who controls the turn now. When the state cut its project down to a bridge, the Squire Pope intersection moved from SCDOT's plans to the Town's. Whatever happens to the turn home now goes through Town Council.
What a Continuous Green-T does at that light
The Town's concept for US 278 at Squire Pope Road and Chamberlin Drive is called a Continuous Green-T, and the planning-level estimate is $900,000. In practice, the movements would work like this, based on the Town's description and The Island Packet's coverage of the July 28 workshop:
- Island-bound traffic on US 278 passes straight through the intersection without stopping, at all times.
- Left turns onto or off Squire Pope Road are kept. Off-island traffic may be stopped on a signal phase to let those turns happen.
- Raised medians, new pavement markings, adaptive signal timing and reworked turn lanes are part of the concept.
- Chamberlin Drive is handled differently in different versions. The Island Packet reported that the July workshop concept would allow no left turns onto or off Chamberlin until a planned extension connects it east to Humane Way and Spanish Wells Road. The Town's September announcement describes turns to and from Chamberlin Drive running on controlled signal phases.
- People walking or cycling would cross on a new pedestrian bridge, since continuous through traffic leaves no safe gap for a crosswalk.
For a Cypress Gate household, the first two items are what count. The 2021 proposal sent drivers through a U-turn to reach Squire Pope. The 2026 concept keeps the direct left and has off-island traffic wait for it.
Why leaving the intersection alone still changes the drive
The Town's traffic data appendix measured 56,800 to 63,300 vehicles a day on the corridor in 2025, with a two-way peak hour of 2,934 vehicles. The appendix also grades the afternoon peak at Squire Pope on the standard A-through-F level-of-service scale, where F means the worst delay.
| Afternoon peak, Squire Pope intersection | Squire Pope Road approach | Westbound US 278 |
|---|---|---|
| 2025, as observed | F | E |
| 2030, nothing built | F | F |
| 2030, with Continuous Green-T | D | D |
The Squire Pope approach is already rated F. If nothing is built, the appendix projects westbound 278, the direction most people take toward the bridge, slipping from E to F by 2030. The engineers project the Green-T would cut overall delay at the intersection by about 35% and afternoon-peak delay for westbound US 278 by nearly 50%.
The crash figures point the same way. From 2018 through 2024, the Gateway Corridor segment recorded 1,108 crashes, and more than 40% of them happened at either Squire Pope or Spanish Wells/Wild Horse. At Squire Pope/Chamberlin, half of the reported crashes were rear-end collisions and 32% were angle crashes. Those are the two crash types Kimley-Horn transportation engineer Dillon Turner said the redesign would reduce, according to The Island Packet.
The pieces attached to it
The Green-T relies on two companion projects in the plan, so the cost of the intersection is more than its $900,000 estimate.
The first is a pedestrian bridge west of Squire Pope Road and Chamberlin Drive, estimated at $14.1 million. It would be an approximately 750-foot pathway and bridge over William Hilton Parkway, with lighting, landscaping and pathway connections. It would also keep north-south walking routes open within the Stoney Historic Neighborhood and connect to Old Schoolhouse Park and the proposed Gullah Geechee Heritage Park.
The second is the Chamberlin Drive extension to Spanish Wells Road, estimated at $3.6 million, with a pedestrian pathway along Humane Way. It would give Chamberlin, a short dead-end residential street, a second connection to the island's road network. In the July workshop version, it was the long-run answer to losing left turns at 278.
A mile down the corridor, a $4.3 million package at Spanish Wells Road and Wild Horse Road would add dual left-turn lanes and a dedicated right-turn lane on Spanish Wells, dedicated through and right-turn lanes on Wild Horse, and new pathway crossings. The Town projects about 40.8% less afternoon-peak delay on the northbound Spanish Wells approach. Engineers also floated a longer-term option of about $36.1 million that would replace the signals there with a flyover bridge and two roundabouts.
Altogether, the five near-term priorities come to an estimated $27.6 million. The full plan lists 12 projects with a planning-level total of $125.8 million in 2025 dollars. The longer-term list includes an extra eastbound lane from the bridge area to Squire Pope and an extra westbound lane from Squire Pope toward the bridge. It also includes signal work at Crosstree Drive and C. Heinrichs Circle near Windmill Harbour.
What adoption actually set in motion
Adoption sets the Town's policy for the corridor. It doesn't put a construction date on anything. Town Manager Marc Orlando said in the Town's announcement that adopting the plan "does not authorize construction, approve final designs or commit funding for any individual project." Before any single project goes ahead, its cost, possible funding sources and schedule have to come back to Town Council. Major projects also go through Council workshops, the Capital Improvements Program, annual budget talks and more public input. In July, WTOC described the plan as conceptual, with Town leaders still looking for federal, state or local money. When the plan passed, WSAV noted that it came after more than seven years of planning and that some people were concerned about the $125.8 million total.
The plan also leaves some traffic problems for later. At the July workshop, Orlando acknowledged that improvements on this stretch could push congestion down to Cross Island Parkway or even Sea Pines Circle. He said the Town would ask SCDOT to look at restriping Cross Island Parkway and William Hilton Parkway to cut down on merge lanes.
The state's bridge is on a separate track. As of SCDOT and Beaufort County's October 2025 update, construction is expected to begin in early 2028, subject to Federal Highway Administration approval. In April 2026, WTOC reported that the bridge design was 60% complete, the estimate was $311 million, and construction would take about two and a half years. The Town said its corridor plan gives it a coordinated framework to use with partner agencies while the bridge project moves forward. Because the bridge project excludes Squire Pope, any change at the Cypress Gate turn will come through Town Council as its own project, with its own cost and schedule.
The Town has posted the full master plan and presentation, a video simulation of the proposed changes, and a project page where later Council actions will show up.
If you'd like to talk about how the Squire Pope intersection and the 2028 bridge work could affect a home near Cypress Gate, whether you own one or are thinking about selling, Tierra Schaffer is happy to go through it with you. Let's Connect.
