Will Hilton Head bridges be closed due to Hurricane Helene? Officials say

Bridges to Hilton Head Island are rarely closed due to dangerous weather, but city officials and the South Carolina Department of Transportation are monitoring Hurricane Helene and potential dangers to motorists as the aggressive Category 2 storm continues to move toward the Gulf of Mexico Thursday.

SCDOT has the final say on closing all bridges across the state. There were no bridge closures related to Helene as of Thursday morning, according to an agency spokesperson.

State authorities do not appear to have rigid criteria or specific benchmarks for closing a bridge; instead, they work “closely with local emergency management and law enforcement” to determine when closures are necessary.

In the past, the Hilton Head bridges have remained open during most major hurricanes and tropical storms, such as Debby, Idalia, Ian, Florence and Michael. Even after Hurricane Dorian triggered a mandatory evacuation in 2019, the Cross Island Parkway remained open — one lane of eastbound traffic was briefly switched to westbound as motorists evacuated the island en masse. Traffic resumed its normal flow about seven hours after the lane reversal.

Thomas Dunn, Hilton Head's emergency manager, said he couldn't remember the last time the Cross Island Parkway was closed because of a hurricane or tropical storm. During a winter storm in 2018, the Charles E. Fraser Bridge was closed for nearly two days because of ice.

While there are no definitive standards for bridge closures, officials have previously pointed to conditions that would likely cause certain sections of the bridge to be closed. The main factor is wind: If it reaches sustained speeds of 30 mph, the Cross Island Parkway would “normally” be closed to high-volume traffic such as emergency vehicles, an SCDOT official said last year. If winds exceed 40 mph, all vehicular traffic would likely be blocked.

With sustained winds exceeding 40 mph, most Beaufort County Sheriff's Office vehicles – Dodge Chargers and Ford Explorers – cannot safely cross major bridges.

With a 400-mile wind field, Hurricane Helene could exceed those thresholds. Storm-driven winds could reach between 39 and 57 miles in the Lowcountry starting Thursday afternoon, with possible gusts of up to 61 mph in the evening, according to the latest forecasts from the National Weather Service's Charleston office.