The governor said he recently discussed the plan with state Department of Transportation officials, whom he said were initially "reticent" about the proposal but have agreed to research it.

The current evacuation plan calls for three of the four U.S. 278 lanes to be routed west from near Spanish Wells Road to S.C. 46. From that point forward, the road reverts back to normal traffic flow, two lanes west and two lanes east.

Steve Fields, a deputy director at the Beaufort County Emergency Management Department, said he had not heard of the governor's proposal and declined to offer an opinion on it, only saying the plan probably could be implemented before this hurricane season.

"We've always got to be flexible," he said.

Sanford detailed the plan to reporters after giving a speech on Hilton Head before about 350 local business people.

Equipped with charts, numbers and graphs, the governor used most of the 40-minute speech to push his sweeping budget and government restructuring proposals aimed at changing what he called a "dysfunctional system in Columbia."

The speech was co-sponsored by the Greater Beaufort-Hilton Head Economic Development Partnership, the Greater Beaufort Chamber of Commerce, the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce and a handful of local businesses.

Some of the proposals the governor discussed in the speech, including those for a cigarette tax increase and an income tax decrease, are being debated by state lawmakers this week as part of ongoing state budget negotiations.

Under Sanford's plan, the state would increase the cigarette tax from 7 cents a pack to 60 cents a pack, accompanied by a reduction of the state income tax rate from 7 percent to 5 percent over 15 years. The governor said the moves would encourage more companies to move to the state.

"Over time, this results in being a substantial tax cut," he said of the plan.

The governor said his proposals would increase the state's per capita income, which he said was on average $5,600 less than the national average.

"We're falling further behind the curve," Sanford said.

To highlight his point, he showed a map of the state showing as red all counties that were below the average national income level and in yellow counties that were above it.

Beaufort County was the only yellow county -- a fact that drew applause from the lunchtime crowd at the Marriott Beach and Golf Resort.

The governor credited the "entrepreneurial level" of area residents, but also said the county may be better off than others because "a bunch of wealthy Yankees moved (here) ... and brought money with them."

Sanford also reiterated his support for charter schools and said local governments should have more control over state education funding.

He wants to break funding into six categories of block grants, instead of the 80 separate expenditure categories he said the system currently uses.

The current system, according to Sanford's figures, has resulted in a 117 percent increase in per-pupil spending during the past 30 years. Over the same period, he said, the number of students in the state only has increased by a half of a percent and SAT scores have risen by just 5 percent.

Improving the state's education system is "not just (about) money, it definitely involves reform," he said.

But education was not the only reform the governor discussed. Additionally, Sanford pushed his government restructuring plan that, among other things, would give more power to the governor's office and put the governor and lieutenant governor on the same election ticket.

"It makes no sense to have a half dozen cross-checks in the executive branch, which is what we have right now," he said of the plan, much of which would require voter approval.

Sanford also expressed support for the Jasper County port proposal.

During his campaign, Sanford had questioned the plan by a private company to build a steamship port on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River because he said it could detract from the Port of Charleston.

But on Wednesday, the governor, answering a question from the crowd, said he now has a different take on the port proposal.

"What I've come to learn is that it would be a private (venture)," he said. "If that's the case I have no problem with it whatsoever."