Improvements planned for Hardeeville's exit 8
Meghan Schiller
HARDEEVILLE, S.C. (WJCL)- The Hardeeville exit off of I-95 may soon get a facelift, much to the happiness of local business owners. Close to 40 thousand cars pass through the Exit 8 area, where I-95 meets Highway 278, but hardly any of those cars realize what town they're passing through. Now, town leaders and business owners are teaming up to change that. "We've seen a lot of changes that are going on down 278 but the main thing that we haven't seen is nothing has happened in Ha rdeeville at this exit," said Cindi Williams, general manager at Holiday Inn Express and Suites. Williams has managed one of the hotels at the exit for 8 years, but says her customers never realize they're in a town called Hardeeville due to lack of signage. "When you get off of this exit you don't even realize it's Hardeeville and this is the Hardeeville exit," said Williams. No sign, no sit-down restaurants and no way for people to spend money that will funnel back into the town's budget. This problem is something that Hardeeville planning director Brana Snowden says is on the agenda to fix. "With the amount of traffic that's there its time for us to be on the map," said Snowden. Snowden says the plan would be to redo the exit loop, clear out all the trees that pose a risk to the public's safety, add access roads, and hopefully develop some shopping centers and sit-down restaurants in the future. "We're looking for our initial funding sources for us now," said Snowden. "We have it in our 5 year capital plan the budget is being adopted sometime in the next month or so." It's a move, Williams says, she's been waiting on for years. She says the facelift will not just improve her business, but the happiness of her customers at check-in time. "I really feel that the restaurant is the key to all of it because a lot of people want to have a cocktail when they get to the hotel and there's no place locally that they can go and get one," said Williams. "We send a lot of business to Okatie Ale House in Okatie so we feel like we're taking away Hardeeville's tax base because we're sending people there."
HARDEEVILLE, S.C. (WJCL)- The Hardeeville exit off of I-95 may soon get a facelift, much to the happiness of local business owners. Close to 40 thousand cars pass through the Exit 8 area, where I-95 meets Highway 278, but hardly any of those cars realize what town they're passing through. Now, town leaders and business owners are teaming up to change that.