‘A transformative component’: In major announcement, SC’s McMaster commits $300M to I-73
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster announced Monday he’d pledge $300 million in state funding to the Interstate 73 highway project, the most significant contribution to the project to date.
McMaster’s announcement, made before local lawmakers and other leaders at the headquarters of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, comes as funding for the major roadway project is being collected at multiple levels of government.
On Monday, McMaster said he’d like his $300 million pledge to come from the American Rescue Plan funds and the 2022 state budget. The state legislature will still have to vote to approve the funding.
“I believe that I-73 will be a transformative component in South Carolina,” McMaster said. “... This new interstate will collect supply chains to efficiently move goods and services across our state.”
He also noted that the project would provide more economic development opportunities and bring about 30,000 more jobs to the Grand Strand. It would also give the area another evacuation option during natural disasters, which would help save the lives or residents and tourists who may be visiting the area, he added.
Leaders in Horry County, Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach are working out plans to collectively raise money to for the project. The project, which is estimated to cost about $1.6 billion, will have a local contribution of about $350 million, a federal contribution of $430 million and a total of $795 million from the state, McMaster said.
Horry County and North Myrtle Beach are both planning to use funds from the 1.5% hospitality fee to pay for I-73. It’s not yet clear what local funds Myrtle Beach may use.
At the news conference, the state Secretary of Transportation Christy Hall said the government’s $300 million commitment will help fund the first phase of the project, which will include building a new interchange at I-95 and will build the first 6 miles from I-95 to U.S. 501.
Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune and North Myrtle Beach Mayor Marilyn Hatley spoke at the news conference, along with county councilmembers Dennis DiSabato and Orton Bellamy.
Bethune said “the time is right” to get started on the interstate project, which has been a discussion topic in the area for decades.
The interstate will “provide both our residents and visitors a safer pathway in and out of our city, especially during hurricane evacuations and reentry,” she said. “This road will help us to create more jobs by diversifying our economy.”
Also Monday, state Rep. William Bailey said in a news release it is “irresponsible” for McMaster to make this financial commitment when the state is still fighting COVID-19.
“We currently have no idea what the future hospital and first responder needs will be,” he said in the release. “Health and safety should always be our first priority.”
Bailey also cited the unsafe local roads that lawmakers have been can’t be repaired due to a lack of financial support. He said those roads should take priority over the highway project.
“I recognize and appreciate that the tourism industry is extremely important to our economy and many people have worked long and hard for the I-73 project,” Bailey said. “However, it cannot come at the price of the quality of life for South Carolinians who have endured so many hardships as a result of the Covid -19 crisis.”
During the announcement, Bellamy said the council plans to focus on improving local roads to complement I-73.
Plans for I-73 originally began in the early 1980s when then-CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, Ashby Ward, began lobbying federal lawmakers to build a new highway from I-95 into Myrtle Beach. By 2003, Congress had paid for studying a road project like that, and South Carolina lawmakers decided that the eventual I-73 would run from I-95 and connect with Highway 22, near Conway.
While state and federal lawmakers have secured various earmarked funds for the project over the past two decades, that money has largely been used to purchase land in the right-of-way of I-73 and to pay for various engineering and environmental studies. Funding for building the road has been elusive. In 2017, I-73 won its needed environmental permits from the federal government and Horry County leaders began discussing a funding plan to contribute local tax dollars to the project shortly after. The Coastal Conservation League then sued, arguing that the environmental studies underlying the permits were out of date, and that the project would damage more wetlands than stated in the permit applications.
Under former Horry County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus, Horry County pledged a portion of its hospitality fee funds, a 1.5% sales tax added to hotel stays, restaurant meals and event tickets, to fund I-73. But the final funding package passed by county lawmakers rankled Myrtle Beach officials, who sued the county in 2018. That lawsuit prevented the county from using the hospitality fee funds for I-73, and in 2019, the county was forced to walk away from a contract it had inked with SCDOT to begin building the road.
In early September this year, a federal judge ruled against the CCL, ending the lawsuit and allowing the permits for I-73 to stand.
In recent weeks, local leaders have begun cobbling together funding for the roadway. North Myrtle Beach and Myrtle Beach leaders have not yet said how much they will contribute separately, but mayors for the cities said Monday they are all working together to figure out those numbers.
“What’s important is that we’re all committed, and we all realize that we happen to have a stake in this as well,” Bethune said. “So, our bodies are still working with our staff, with our CFO’s, with the city manager, as well as our individual councils, to figure out what our funding plan will be.”
It’s not yet clear if or when federal funding for the project will become available.
This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 4:48 PM with the headline "‘A transformative component’: In major announcement, SC’s McMaster commits $300M to I-73."
