2022 was supposed to be the year I-73 won funding. That didn’t happen. What now?
After 40 years, it appeared as if 2022 would be the year South Carolina finally put significant money toward the construction of Interstate 73.
A federal judge upheld environmental permits for I-73, President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan became law and Gov. Henry McMaster drove to Myrtle Beach to pledge $300 million to the project — all in the months ahead of lawmakers returning to Columbia to write a budget.
I-73 boosters were bullish and said construction was all but inevitable. This year was the year, they said.
“I think we’re going to be turning dirt within a year,” U.S. Rep. Tom Rice told constituents in February. “We’re closer than we’ve ever been.”
That’s not happening. At least not this year.
State lawmakers, to date, have declined to include McMaster’s request to kick start I-73 construction, which would build the first interchange and six miles of the highway off of Interstate 95.
As of Thursday, both chambers of the Legislature had approved budgets that excluded I-73. That means it’s likely the Legislature will pass a budget next month that again leaves the interstate unfunded.
So where does that leave I-73, which would give Myrtle Beach its first-ever interstate connection?
“It fits in the mold of when something doesn’t happen the first, second, third, forth, fifth time it’s try, try, try again,” said Mark Sanford, a former U.S. congressman and former South Carolina governor.
Sanford, though, who was part of I-73 efforts when he was governor, remained optimistic.
“I think it’s going to happen based on the obvious need,” he said.
That will be an uphill climb.
A trio of state senators who represent parts of Horry County held up passage on Wednesday of the Senate’s budget for hours, introducing amendment after amendment to squeeze in money for I-73.
Every amendment failed.
State Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Little River, acknowledged that difficulty Thursday.
“It was a Hail Mary,” he said. “We knew it was a heck of a long shot under the best of circumstances, and it wasn’t the best of circumstances.”
Others, though, were deeply frustrated that a spending plan for I-73 didn’t pan out. Mike Wooten, an Horry County engineer and former chairman of the South Carolina Department of Transportation, said describing him as disappointed would be “an understatement.”
“My level of frustration after working on that for 34 years, ... I’m better off saying nothing,” he said.
I-73’s failure this year now has some supporters saying it’s time to move on.
“It’s not going to happen,” said former state Rep. Vida Osteen Miller, who represented Georgetown County. “Honestly, I know we need road improvements, that’s pretty obvious. I just don’t see this becoming reality.”
Most I-73 supporters, including McMaster, said they’ll fight on.
“I-73 has been a priority of the governor’s for years, and it’s going to continue to be one,” Brian Symmes, a spokesperson for McMaster, said in a statement. “Obviously, it’s disappointing that those efforts haven’t been successful in the Senate so far, but the governor’s not giving up on the project and will continue to advocate for it when the budget goes back to the House of Representatives.”
A long road to failure
When I-73 was first conceived in the 1980s, it was pitched as a grand economic savior for depressed towns and cities between Detroit and Charleston. Connecting a major port to a major manufacturing hub would benefit everyone, boosters argued.
Those two cities eventually said “no” to I-73, and Myrtle Beach became the new home of its terminus.
State and federal lobbying efforts to win funding for I-73 intensified in the 1990s and 2000s, but to little avail. Earmarks from Washington allowed SCDOT to move the project forward, but construction money was never available.
That all came to a head in September when a federal judge ruled against the Coastal Conservation League, which had challenged environmental permits for I-73. With that lawsuit concluded, the project was in the best place it had been in a long time: Its permits were secured, SCDOT had completed its studies and the agency had begun buying land for I-73’s eventual right-of-way.
Within weeks, McMaster, state lawmakers and Horry County officials were gathered at the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce headquarters for a major announcement: The Governor would lobby lawmakers to include $300 million for I-73 in this year’s budget.
The House denied that request. Ways and Means Chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, explained it was because it wasn’t on SCDOT’s priority list.
That left it up to the Senate.
Hembree, in March, was optimistic, and said he and Horry County’s other senators would “put up a good fight” for the $300 million.
But Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-Cherokee, the new chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, had other ideas.
Rather than use the state’s budget surplus for roads and schools, he wanted to give the money back to taxpayers directly. As Hembree argued on the Senate floor this week, Peeler’s plan meant no money was available for I-73.
But McMaster made good on his pledge, Symmes said, and pushed Peeler to fund I-73.
“Before the budget was approved by the Senate Finance Committee, the governor had a meeting with Chairman Peeler specifically to discuss three priorities, with I-73 being one of them — that’s how important this project is,” Symmes said.
Peeler, though, wouldn’t budge. He was committed to the $1 billion tax rebate program that would send between $100 and $700 back to South Carolina residents.
“When he presented that idea to the Senate initially, he said, ‘You’re not going to out-tax-cut Harvey Peeler, and you’re not going to out-tax-rebate Harvey Peeler,’” Hembree said. “And we just disagree.”
Peeler didn’t return multiple phone calls seeking comment.
Smith, on Thursday, sounded the death knell for I-73, at least for 2022.
“You see what the House Budget did, and it did not have funding for I-73,” he said. “And if the Senate didn’t, then I think it’d be a difficult hill for that to be funded.”
Throwing Hail Marys
Peeler’s commitment to the tax rebate program led to a last-ditch effort Wednesday, when Hembree, Senate Judiciary Chairman Luke Rankin, R-Conway, and Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Murrells Inlet, spent hours attempting to amend the Senate’s budget to include I-73.
Some of Hembree’s proposed amendments — including one that swapped out the rebate program for I-73, county-level road projects and disadvantaged schools — managed to garner the support of several senators.
“If we can’t do it this year, when are we going to do it?” Hembree asked during one of several speeches Wednesday. “This would be the year to do it.”
But none got enough votes to pass.
Even an amendment to create a state account for I-73 and cover it with $1 failed Wednesday night.
In an interview Thursday, Hembree said the efforts of Horry County’s senators “was time well spent.”
“I want my constituents to know that they have people working for them going against the power structure,” he said. “It’s risky to challenge the chairman of Senate finance. It’s ... one of the most powerful positions in state government, and when you push back there can be consequences.”
What happens now?
I-73 boosters said they’ll fight on for funding for the interstate.
“Interstate 73 was a priority for South Carolina yesterday, it is today and it will be tomorrow,” said state Rep. Case Brittain, R-Myrtle Beach, who also chairs the National I-73/I-74/I-75 Association. “Nothing about the importance of building this public safety and economic development project has changed.”
Symmes said McMaster would continue the fight, too. He noted that “the progress we have made likely isn’t possible without the governor’s full-throated, public support for the project.”
“The fact that I-73 is a such a big topic of debate at the State House this year is progress, even if it’s not as far along as we’d hoped it would be by now,” he said.
Some lawmakers though, including Horry County state Rep. William Bailey, R-Little River, said it’s time to re-tool the approach to I-73.
“If the project is ever going to move forward, we must approach it differently,” he said.
Sanford and other state lawmakers in the past supported adding tolls to I-73 to help pay for its construction, and Sanford said Thursday it could still be a viable way to “jump start” construction. That’s an idea Hembree floated again Wednesday.
Ultimately, Hembree said, whether I-73 is funded comes down to politics.
He said he plans to debrief with Rice and SCDOT Secretary Christy Hall in coming weeks to make a new plan.
He said he’s not done fighting for I-73.
“We’re not letting off, we’re not giving up,” he said. “We’re going to take a deep breath and try again.”
Reporter Joe Bustos with The State contributed reporting.
This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 11:55 AM with the headline "2022 was supposed to be the year I-73 won funding. That didn’t happen. What now?."
