Belfair Oaks Boulevard meets US 278 across from Buck Island Road. From that intersection, a Belfair driver heads west toward the Kroger at Belfair Towne Village and the SC 170 interchange, or east toward Moss Creek Drive and the Mackay Creek bridge to Hilton Head Island. Both directions now have plans attached to them. Some sit on the Beaufort County ballot on November 3, 2026, and one sits in SCDOT's design files for a construction start in early 2028.
Read together, the plans tell a consistent story about this stretch of road. None of them adds a travel lane between Belfair and the island. What they do change is how the intersections work, starting with the one at Belfair's own entrance.
Your Gate Intersection Is a Line Item
The 2026 transportation sales tax referendum carries roughly 65 projects across the county. One of them is "US 278 & Buck Island Rd," with an allocation of $1.8 million. The county describes it as a pedestrian intersection improvement covering rephasing, timing and lane arrangements, and it reconfigures Buck Island Road to carry two northbound left-turn lanes, one through lane and one right-turn lane.
For anyone leaving Belfair, the through lane on Buck Island Road matters because it points straight at Belfair Oaks Boulevard. The added left-turn capacity serves drivers coming up Buck Island Road and heading west on 278, and that traffic shares the signal cycle with everyone pulling out of Belfair's gate.
Just to the west, the list includes a similar $2.22 million project at US 278 and Simmonsville Road, with rephasing, retiming and two northbound left-turn lanes on Simmonsville. Some residents already know that half mile of road well. The Belfair Clean & Green Brigade, an Adopt-A-Highway group, works the shoulders of 278 in both directions from Simmonsville Road to Belfair Oaks Boulevard, most recently on March 2, 2026, when the county asked motorists to watch for volunteers in orange vests working where there is no sidewalk.
Every Project on This Stretch Works on Timing, Turns and Pavement
Once the Buck Island Road project is in view, the rest of the list for this corridor follows the same pattern. Here is everything on the referendum that touches US 278 between SC 170 and the bridge, plus the interchange at the western end.
| Project | Allocation | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Traffic Signal Improvements, countywide | $19,075,000 | Adaptive signal network on named corridors, including US 278 from Argent Boulevard to Moss Creek Drive. Possible retiming, new hardware, and radar or camera detection |
| SC 170/US 278 Diverging Diamond Interchange | $18,054,000 | Dual left turns from SC 170 onto 278 eastbound. Dual left and dual right turns from the 278 westbound off-ramp. A slip lane feeding the turn lane at Commerce Place |
| US 278 & Buck Island Rd | $1,800,000 | Rephasing, timing and lane changes at Belfair's entrance |
| US 278 & Simmonsville Rd | $2,220,000 | Rephasing, timing and two northbound left turns on Simmonsville |
| Median Closings US 278 | $1,345,000 | Right-turn-only access at five intersections, including Lost Oaks Drive |
| Fording Island Road resurfacing | $27,096,400 | New pavement from SC 170 to the Hilton Head Island bridge |
The signal program is the largest item on the list, and its scope is broader than the 278 segment. It also covers Bluffton Parkway, Buckwalter Parkway and two corridors in Beaufort. The corridors come from a Kimley-Horn memo dated April 6, 2026, and the work begins with an evaluation of existing signal equipment before any design. Adaptive signals adjust their timing to the traffic actually present, so on a road where the number of lanes stays fixed, they are the main tool on this list for moving more cars through the same space.
Lost Oaks Drive was in the news this summer. On June 25, 2026, the Island Packet reported an overturned pickup at US 278 and Lost Oaks Drive that closed the eastbound lanes and backed up traffic in both directions. The proposed median closure there would allow only right turns in and out.
The Lanes Stop at SC 170
The referendum includes a $51.984 million widening of US 278 from four lanes to six. The county scopes it from the Beaufort County line to SC 170, with improvements at University Boulevard, Community College Drive, Sun City Boulevard and Palmer Grace Drive West. The extra lanes end at the interchange west of Belfair. East of SC 170, 278 gets resurfacing, signal work and intersection changes, but it keeps the lanes it has.
The full widening budget for the county is $205 million, alongside $326 million for safety and intersection work and $249 million for resurfacing and dirt-road paving. On the Belfair segment, all of the proposed spending comes out of the second and third categories.
The island side of the bridge follows the same pattern. The two named gateway intersections on William Hilton Parkway are Squire Pope Road at $14.4 million and Spanish Wells Road at $39.7 million, and both are intersection redesigns.
The Bridge Was Already Scaled Back to a Bridge
The larger US 278 Corridor Improvements project once covered the road from Moss Creek Drive to Spanish Wells Road, including widening and congestion relief. That plan is on hold for lack of funding. At the September 15, 2026 Hilton Head Island Town Council meeting, assistant county administrator Jared Fralix explained why. Construction costs pushed the program from about $300 million to $500 million, no funds were available to cover the $200 million difference, and in 2025 the partners chose a project within their means, which became the replacement of the eastbound Mackay Creek bridge, built in 1956. He described the tradeoff plainly:
"We're still addressing the structural deficiency, but not addressing congestion in the same manner."
The replacement runs from just beyond Moss Creek Drive to C. Heinrichs Circle near Windmill Harbour. The new span will be striped for the two eastbound lanes that exist today, with a 10-foot inside shoulder and a 22-foot outside shoulder. That leaves room to restripe for a third lane if a later project adds road work on either side. The new bridge will be built alongside the existing one so traffic can keep using the current route, and SCDOT expects the most noticeable traffic effects near the end of construction, when eastbound lanes are tied onto the new structure.
Two questions are still open. A federal Large Bridge Grant application, filed in August 2025, was initially denied, then revised and resubmitted after a debrief, and USDOT has not yet made a final decision. If the grant is awarded, the partners would have to decide whether to accept it and return to the larger 2022 design. Fralix put the practical deadline for that decision around contract award, during the fall and winter 2027 bidding period. Separately, the county, SCDOT and the Hilton Head and Broad Creek PSD are still working out how much of the island's water pipeline relocation the state program will reimburse.
Fralix also noted that some mainland pieces of the original corridor plan in unincorporated Beaufort County could be funded through the 2026 referendum if it passes. On the published list, those pieces take the form of the signal, intersection and resurfacing projects in the table above.
When Any of It Could Show Up
The ballot and the bridge run on separate schedules that overlap. In order:
- November 3, 2026. Voters decide Question 1, a 1% sales and use tax capped at $780 million over nine years, and Question 2, authority for up to $450 million in general obligation bonds repaid from that tax.
- May 1, 2027. If approved, the tax takes effect. The ordinance ends it no later than April 30, 2036.
- Summer 2027. Final design of the bridge is due.
- Fall and winter 2027. The bridge contract goes out to bid.
- Early 2028. Bridge construction is scheduled to begin, on a planned 30-month build.
- Mid to late 2030. The new eastbound bridge is expected to be complete.
The county has not published construction dates for the individual referendum projects. The bond question is the county's tool for pace. In August, Fralix told the Island Packet that bonding lets projects start before sales tax revenue builds up. The paper also reported that unfinished projects from the 2018 penny tax are not on the 2026 list, while projects from the 2024 proposal that voters rejected are included. That 2024 measure asked for $950 million over up to 10 years and failed on November 5, 2024. The 2026 ordinance also sets up a seven-member Citizen's Oversight Committee. Its members would be appointed by County Council and by the councils of Hilton Head Island, Bluffton, Beaufort and Port Royal, with first terms starting January 1, 2027.
Both the county's itemized descriptions and the SCDOT bridge FAQ are public, at beaufortcountypenny.com and scdot278bridgereplacement.com. For the Belfair stretch, the line items to find are Buck Island Road, Simmonsville Road, the countywide signal program and the Fording Island Road resurfacing.
Road plans like these are part of how buyers and sellers think about access along 278, and we follow them for that reason. If you'd like to know how the timeline for this corridor might factor into your home's value over the next few years, The Bradford Group can walk you through it. Request Your Home Valuation, and we'll give you the local picture along with the numbers.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
