Hilton Head Summer Traffic

[BobH]

My wife & I are taking our family (including a 22 month old grandaughter) to Hilton Head DVC July 16. We've been there twice - once in March & once in May during slow seasons but we have no idea what to expect in the busier summer season.
We will be arriving on a Saturday afternoon and I am wondering about the drive to the island on Rt 278. I have heard traffic on & off the island can be very slow. Would an approach through Bluffton area on Route 46 be better? I am just looking to keep the drive as pleasant and quick as possible since we are traveling with a very young grand daughter. Thanks for any information.

 

[JBx3]

My understanding from others is Saturday from mid day on is terrible, very terrible. Last year we went in on a Saturday but it was 8:30 or 9:00 a.m. so it was really pretty easy to get to the island, anything later than that, best of luck I guess

 

[Dean]

My wife & I are taking our family (including a 22 month old grandaughter) to Hilton Head DVC July 16. We've been there twice - once in March & once in May during slow seasons but we have no idea what to expect in the busier summer season.
We will be arriving on a Saturday afternoon and I am wondering about the drive to the island on Rt 278. I have heard traffic on & off the island can be very slow. Would an approach through Bluffton area on Route 46 be better? I am just looking to keep the drive as pleasant and quick as possible since we are traveling with a very young grand daughter. Thanks for any information.

Anytime starting around early lunch time F-S will be bumper to bumper during summer most days. Getting off the island around 5 pm any day during busier times of the year will be tough as well. Sat 12-4 will likely be the worst.

 

[dis-happy]

sending you a pm.

BTW, Are you coming from the north or the south??

 

[BobH]

I'll be coming up 95 from the south. Probably reach Hilton head area around 1pm on Sat. July 16. I had the feeling traffic would be tough getting onto the island on Sat afternoon - I was just hoping against all odds that we wouldn't be sitting in traffic on Rt 278 for 30 miles between I95 exit 8 and the island. I was considering getting off I95 further south and connecting to Rt46 or Rt 170.
I know we will end up in a bottleneck eventually anyway but I was hoping someone might suggest an alternate route if Rt 278 is a parking lot. We can stand traffic but I just didn't want to creep along for 3 hrs for the last 30miles with a toddler in the car. Any other route suggestions through Blufftin area would be appreciated - if not thanks very much to all of you.

 

[Simba's Mom]

The fear of traffic is one reason we only go to HHI off-season. Be careful biking! I remember one server telling us the story of biking home from work one summer night and encountering a car driving towards him-on the bike path! We've had cars driving the wrong way on one-way streets several times, and cars just sitting in the middle of the highway blocking both lanes.


BTW, I'm from Worcester and used to have a boss from Sterling-and my boss's name was Bob! Also, my stepdaughter lived in Sterling for a few years.

 

[Dean]

I'll be coming up 95 from the south. Probably reach Hilton head area around 1pm on Sat. July 16. I had the feeling traffic would be tough getting onto the island on Sat afternoon - I was just hoping against all odds that we wouldn't be sitting in traffic on Rt 278 for 30 miles between I95 exit 8 and the island. I was considering getting off I95 further south and connecting to Rt46 or Rt 170.
I know we will end up in a bottleneck eventually anyway but I was hoping someone might suggest an alternate route if Rt 278 is a parking lot. We can stand traffic but I just didn't want to creep along for 3 hrs for the last 30miles with a toddler in the car. Any other route suggestions through Blufftin area would be appreciated - if not thanks very much to all of you.

Unless there's an accident, it'll move OK but just take a while. It's actually hit or miss so hopefully you'll be OK. I don't think there's much for alternates that would make it any better. I don't think the back way from Savannah is worth it in your situation. IF you can get there earlier, in time for lunch say, I think you'd be a lot better off. We try to get on the island early enough to check in, then get a fairly early lunch. I'd forego a large breakfast and a little sleep to get there earlier, it's definitely worth it for many.

 

[BobH]

Thanks Dean & Simba's Mom. We'll be on the road as early as possible, but our travel will be controlled somewhat by my the number of stops on the way required by my toddler age grand daughter. We'll keep our fingers crossed that we hit traffic during nap time.

 

[dis-happy]

Sometimes on Sat. they re-set with the 278 traffic lights to make things more streamlined. I wouldn't worry about 3 hrs. of traffic....more like an hour or so (unless there's an accident as Dean pointed out). Pure drive time from JAX is about 2.5 hrs. on a good day; keep in mind that traffic on 95 in general will be busy as well. There are still a couple areas of construction in GA.

 

[BobH]

I also noticed that the Hilton head Paper Island Packet has traffic cams.
http://www.islandpacket.com/traffic/

 

[MinnieGi]

We go every summer and have been in late June, July, and early August. We arrive Saturday later afternoon and have only ONCE had it take an hour to get on the island from I-95. All the other summers it takes just 30 minutes and that is with a bit of traffic.

We really do not find the traffic bad at all on the island at any point during the summer. But perhaps that is b/c we are used to sitting in LONG backups on Rt.1 for the DE and MD beaches!!! There you really do sit, but at HHI we feel like we keep moving around the island very easy.

 

[BobH]

Thanks - it is good to know that at least we have a chance of getting a decent trip for the last 30 miles depending on how we hit the traffic.
Minnie G do you have any thoughts on whether it is better to use the Cross Island Brridge/ toll road during the busy months to get to Disney ,or would you recommend just staying on 278? The distance seems about the same beause Disney is located in the middle of the island.

 

[MinnieGi]

Thanks - it is good to know that at least we have a chance of getting a decent trip for the last 30 miles depending on how we hit the traffic.
Minnie G do you have any thoughts on whether it is better to use the Cross Island Brridge/ toll road during the busy months to get to Disney ,or would you recommend just staying on 278? The distance seems about the same beause Disney is located in the middle of the island.

Better to stay on 278 - more direct to the resort.

 

[SusieBea]

We left the Island this past Saturday around 3PM to take our DD and DGC to the Savannah airport. At that time, traffic onto the Island was bumper to bumper, but not nearly all the way to I 95. There were several police situated in the median along the way. When we returned to the Island, about 4:30, the situation was much improved, almost to normal. Good luck!

 

[emilymad]

We are in HHI now. We came in on Saturday around 3pm from I-95. It took us about an hour to get on the island. We don't feel that the island is very crowded right now so I am not sure how it would be in July. We took the Cross Island Expressway since we aren't staying at Disney. It really does make the trip much faster. Depending on how much traffic there is I would maybe consider it instead of sitting at all of those lights.

 

[5forDiz]

Except for 2 trips when our family first began going to HHI we always take Cross Island Parkway to Palmetto Bay Rd. to Disney resort instead of 278 both during summer and off season times and we've found it has consistently been faster; there may be some slowdown due to traffic at/around Sea Pines Circle during summer but it shouldn't be too much. We prefer taking Cross Island too because we can stop at supermarkets along this route either Publix, Food Lion or Harris Teeter. (both times when we took 278, once being during summer and other off season, it took longer than CI Parkway)

Enjoy the trip

 

[Simba's Mom]

Except for 2 trips when our family first began going to HHI we always take Cross Island Parkway to Palmetto Bay Rd. to Disney resort instead of 278 both during summer and off season times and we've found it has consistently been faster; there may be some slowdown due to traffic at/around Sea Pines Circle during summer but it shouldn't be too much. We prefer taking Cross Island too because we can stop at supermarkets along this route either Publix, Food Lion or Harris Teeter. (both times when we took 278, once being during summer and other off season, it took longer than CI Parkway)

Enjoy the trip

Now I'm wondering if we're missing something-in our 9 trips to HHI, we've never been on the Cross Island Parkway. Is it significantly faster, even off-season?

 

[5forDiz]

Now I'm wondering if we're missing something-in our 9 trips to HHI, we've never been on the Cross Island Parkway. Is it significantly faster, even off-season?

While Cross Island does add somewhere around 1.5 miles over taking 278 once we started taking parkway it seemed better quicker route to us, but of course some of how we feel about it may be influenced by stores we can stop off at by Palmetto Bay Rd./Sea Pines Circle area. When we took 278 maybe it happened to be at slower moving traffic times .

 

[BobH]

Thanks to all for the great information. I would have suspected that the toll booth on the Cross Island Expressway might be a slower route than just staying on Rt 278 - but maybe more traffic lights make 278 a slower route. I also would have thought that the traffic circle would cause significant delay during high volume traffic periods. I am from New England and traffic circles are always a bottleneck around here.

 

[BobH]

I probably shouldn't change the subject here but would any of you experienced Hilton Head vacationers have rented umbrella & chairs form the rental service that the life guards run near the Disney Beach House? Any thoughts on it?