Corporate law attorney in Hardeeville, SC.

Hardeeville’s Exit 5 and Hilton Head Island’s Exit 8 are being reconfigured as part of the most expensive contract in the South Carolina Department of Transportation’s history,

SCDOT is undertaking the herculean task of widening Interstate 95, the major east coast roadway shuffling drivers between Maine and Miami. The interstate will widen from two to three lanes in a $825 million project expected to be completed by 2030.

The scope will extend from the Savannah River northward to approximately one mile beyond the U.S. 278 interchange to Hilton Head Island. Fourteen bridges will be replaced, and the Exit 8 interchange will be reconfigured into a new, increasingly popular type of roadway designed to keep traffic flowing and reduce collisions.

The upgrades are designed to reduce bottlenecks through the Hardeeville zone, currently one of the worst rural interstates for freight mobility, a 2021 SCDOT I-95 feasibility report found.

In the short-term, however, more traffic headaches are possible. Craig Winn, the SCDOT Program Manager for the Lowcountry, said the current two lanes of traffic will be kept open — at least during peak hours.

“We do lane closures a little bit differently than other states. We do have restrictions on our primary routes, our interstate systems, where there’s only certain periods of time where the contractors can actually close lanes down,” Winn said.

Hilton Head’s Exit 8 is being reconfigured into what is called a “diverging diamond interchange,” which looks a bit like shoelaces tied into several knots.

Although they might look complex from a birds-eye view, SCDOT said diverging diamonds can be a “game changer” for high-traffic areas.

This new-style intersection improves traffic flow by eliminating the need for drivers to make left turns across oncoming traffic. Instead, it temporarily shifts drivers in both directions to the opposite sides of the road. Clear signage, pavement markings and traffic signals help guide drivers through the roadway.

“Over the past few years, multiple interchanges throughout the state have been converted to DDIs and helped to reduce conflict points with crossing traffic,” SCDOT said in a Facebook post.

Once the project is finished, a driver leaving Hilton Head on U.S. 278 going to I-95 southbound will approach a traffic light. When the light is green, the driver will cross the intersection and be in what would conventionally be the eastbound lanes. The driver can then make a left turn directly onto the I-95 southbound on-ramp.

Similarly, eastbound U.S. 278 traffic, on a green light, will cross over to the westbound lanes and merge onto northbound I-95, eliminating the need for separate left-turn signals. Drivers who want to remain traveling east or west on U.S. 278 will encounter another traffic signal. If the light is green, they will be funneled back to what is considered the “normal” side of the highway.

The Exit 8 project also involves eliminating the intersection at Medical Center Drive, which provides access to hotels, restaurants and Novant Health’s Coastal Carolina Medical Center. SCDOTs plans show the intersection will be moved approximately one-fifth of a mile to Dolnik Drive.

A traffic circle will be built where this new road connects to Brickyard Road, allowing drivers to head west, looping back to the shops, hotels and hospital and apartments currently under construction.

At Purrysburg Road just over the state border with Georgia, the city of Hardeeville will build a new interchange with I-95, Exit 3. In a September interview, SCDOTs Winn said he did not have a build date, but was expecting to seek bids at the end of the year.

SCDOT plans show that Exit 3 will also likely be a DDI.

Hardeeville, which has experienced growth as a major shipping and logistics hub, will see some modifications to Exit 5. SCDOT plans to change the off-ramps from the interstate so that they end at a traffic signal, instead of forcing drivers to yield to traffic from U.S. 17.

A new frontage road connecting to U.S. 17 will also be built farther away from the interchange, plans show. The road will direct traffic behind gas stations, restaurants and fireworks stores.

Hardeeville’s growth is driven by the area’s proximity to the Savannah Ports, I-95 and rail lines. Millions of square feet of logistics and manufacturing space are quickly appearing along the U.S. 17 corridor; the South Atlantic Logistics Terminal alone will span over 800 acres and is planned to include as much as 6 million square feet of warehouse and industrial space upon completion, breaking ground in November 2024.

More large fulfillment centers means more truck traffic, and the new traffic signals are designed to offer some relief.

It’s no secret that Hardeeville is booming.

Located about 20 miles from Hilton Head Island, this once quaint and quiet South Carolina city was noted as one of the fastest growing municipalities last year – and the construction popping up across town makes it clear why.

From new neighborhoods and multi-use developments to a Buc-ee’s and major statewide projects like Interstate 95 improvements, Hardeeville is starting to shed its small-town image and staking a claim on the map.

But amid these other big-ticket projects, smaller but critical improvements are also underway on Argent Boulevard, a key connector road linking Beaufort and Jasper Counties’ major routes, S.C. 170 and U.S. 278.

While this two-lane road may not seem like much, it’s classified as a major collector, carrying up to 14,800 vehicles per day, according to a 2023 traffic study by Kimley-Horn, a national engineering and design consulting firm.

To accommodate the city’s rapid growth and improve safety and traffic flow, construction began to improve this corridor in September, aiming to keep the road – and the city – moving forward.

Here’s what folks can expect as this project continues and what upgrades it will bring to this major connecting road.

Why is the construction needed?

The main focus of this $6.6 million project on Argent Boulevard happens at the intersection of Short Cut Road and Jasper Station Road.

Currently, Short Cut Road does not line up with Jasper Station Road, where both approach the busy corridor. Because of this offset intersection, the South Carolina Department of Transportation has been unable to install a traffic signal there, said Josh Gruber, city manager for the City of Hardeeville.

Without those roads being aligned, the SCDOT can’t install a traffic signal.

To solve this, the City of Hardeeville is realigning Short Cut Road, shifting it slightly south so it lines up cleanly with Jasper Station Road.

As folks travel through, the ongoing tree clearing, groundbreaking and cone placements at this intersection reflect this planned shift.

Once the city completes the realignment, which is set to conclude by June 2026, SCDOT will install a fully signalized four-way intersection, easing the flow of traffic and making it easier for drivers to cross or turn in a given direction.

What drivers can expect

Drivers should expect ongoing work in the area, largely occurring in the evenings, to minimize traffic impact.

This schedule will continue until the city completes the realignment. Afterward, SCDOT will follow with the installation of the traffic signal equipment, but a specific timeline for that portion has not yet been released.

Another traffic signal coming to Argent & U.S. 278

In addition to the Short Cut Road improvements, Gruber confirmed that SCDOT is moving forward on a new signal at the intersection of Argent Boulevard and U.S. 278.

While also in early stages, he states that the SCDOT recently put that project out to bid to select a contractor. Once that step is complete, construction on that light will follow.

Once both projects are finished and the signals are installed, drivers are expected to have a much safer and more efficient travel through the corridor – something local residents have long requested.

No widening of Argent this time around

As the city continues with its piece of the project to realign the roads, one aspect that remains open is whether lane widening will take place.

As a part of this project with road realignment and light installation, Gruber clarified that Argent Boulevard will not be widened.

“We’re still at the very beginning of what that entire corridor improvement is going to look like,” he said.

Any future changes to the broader Argent corridor fall under the new Jasper County Transportation Sales Tax program, which only began collecting this year. Surveys and feasibility studies are still needed due to the wetland areas surrounding Argent, meaning that there’s still a lot to uncover about what’s going to be possible in terms of improvements, Gruber states.

What other projects are happening in Hardeeville?

A handful of other projects are currently taking place in the Hardeeville area, ranging from road updates, new developments and more.

Notable construction that folks will see stretching from Argent Boulevard, down to Exit 8 on I-95 includes:

More than 650 new homes are coming to the Lowcountry after a Georgia-based developer acquired land in growing areas.

Trilogy Investment Co., an investor and residential real estate developer based in Alpharetta, Georgia, said that it plans to deliver home sites to homebuilder NVR, Inc. through its land development platform, Tierra Development. NVR will then build hundreds of homes on Trilogy’s two new Lowcountry properties, both in Jasper County.

“By identifying high-quality land opportunities and aligning with exceptional builder and capital partners, we are helping deliver much-needed housing supply in the southeast while driving strong outcomes for our investors,” Jason Joseph, CEO and managing partner of Trilogy, said in a press release.

The two Jasper County projects

The first project, which is currently under construction, will include 414 homes in a Hardeeville development called Heron Pointe, south of Interstate 95 and east of Speedway Boulevard. Work is underway on phase one, which will include 174 homes, Trilogy said. Construction on phase two is expected to begin next summer.

Jasper County property records show that Trilogy purchased the 118-acre site for about $6.8 million in June of this year. The land is currently valued at about $3.2 million, records show, and phase one of the project is financed by Charlotte-based Harvest Capital through an acquisition and development loan, Harvest Capital said on its website.

The second project, called East Argent, is part of a project billed as the largest residential development in the history of Hardeeville. Trilogy said in its press release that the project is in Bluffton, but it is technically in Jasper County near the Beaufort County border.

East Argent is a Planned Development District (PDD) put in place by the city of Hardeeville in the early 2000s. It will include homes, apartments, commercial space and a new YMCA, which broke ground earlier this year. A 312-unit apartment complex, Waterford Pointe Apartments, is scheduled to come online in 2027, and Publix owns a 17-acre site in the southwest corner of Highway 170 and East Argent Parkway, records show.

D.R. Horton is developing a 245-acre, 630-home resort-style community in East Argent called The Retreat.

Trilogy’s 92-acre property sits in the northeast corner of Jasper Station Road and East Argent Parkway, across from Heartwood Community Preschool. Records show a sale date of Sept. 12 and a price of $10.

The area’s housing and population growth

Jasper County’s housing stock is growing faster than anywhere else in the U.S. The county’s housing stock grew by 8.4% between 2023 and 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Hardeeville’s population jumped from about 7,000 residents in 2020 to 13,000 by 2024, making it the fastest-growing municipality in the state.

The new Carolina Station development off U.S. 278 is expected to bring 3,800 homes to Hardeeville, plus recreational areas and commercial space.

The developer behind a brand-new residential community in Hardeeville is being sued in Florida for allegedly lowballing buyers on their total monthly costs.

Texas-based D.R. Horton is being sued by five plaintiffs for allegedly giving buyers quotes that were lower than their payments. The plaintiffs allege that D.R. Horton and its mortgage arm, DHI Mortgage (DHIM), knowingly suppressed anticipated property tax estimates, leading to monthly payments that were actually about $1,000 more than initially laid out.

One plaintiff, Frankie Santiago, said he was promised a $2,164.68 monthly payment by the company, but ended up paying $3,136.33 less than a year after closing when a new servicer conducted an escrow analysis. The four other plaintiffs said they were promised a $2,602.47 monthly payment; they paid $2,597.84 for almost two years, but after an escrow analysis that payment increased to $3,439.07.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs argued that D.R. Horton and DHIM knowingly misrepresented the actual monthly costs. Through a spokesperson, D.R. Horton said the allegations are untrue.

“D.R. Horton and DHI Mortgage strongly disagree with the claims made in the lawsuit, and we intend to vigorously defend against them,” spokeswoman Jessica L. Hansen said in an emailed statement. “D.R. Horton and DHIM have been, and will continue to be, unwavering in our commitment towards transparency with our customers.”

D.R. Horton bills itself as the largest homebuilder in the U.S., and has a sizable presence in the Lowcountry and the rest of South Carolina. The company is building the new Carolina Station development in Hardeeville, a planned 2,600 acre mixed-use community designed to usher a new wave of buyers into the growing city. It is also one of the contractors in a statewide program designed to build more workforce housing.

The company focuses on starter homes, move-ups, active adult and luxury houses. Homebuilding operations accounted for 92% of the company’s consolidated revenues in 2024; the company has homebuilding operations in Hilton Head, Charleston, Columbia, Myrtle Beach and Greenville/Spartanburg, according to its 2024 annual report.

This is not the first time D.R. Horton has faced legal trouble. In January, the State newspaper reported that about 60 lawsuits were filed against the company in Richland, Lexington and Horry counties, alleging major flaws in D.R. Horton-built homes.

The lawsuit comes at a time when many Americans are concerned about housing costs.

Goldman Sachs analysts found that the U.S. home price-to-income ratio is 4.42, higher than its peak of 4.1 in 2006 during the early 21st century housing boom. The average monthly mortgage payment has gone from less than 20% of a potential buyer’s income before the pandemic to more than 30% since 2022.

Mortgage rates hit a 20-year high in 2022 and have sustained ever since, the financial firm said. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 6.22% on Nov. 6, lower than this time last year, but significantly higher than 3.87% ten years ago and 3.11% as recently as December 2021, according to Freddie Mac.

The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point in September. Some experts said it could lead to a feeling of financial flexibility among consumers, but mortgage rates and interest rates don’t go hand in hand.