Conway bridge update: Officials hopeful road will open ahead of Memorial Day Weekend

The bikers are coming for a weekend at the beach, and if all goes according to plan, Highway 501 Business will have its bridge back.

With Memorial Day just around the corner, and tourist season approaching, the U.S. 501 Business Bridge across the Waccamaw River into Conway has remained closed since January.

But a South Carolina Department of Transportation representative with the bridge division said the road is expected to reopen by Memorial Day Weekend in just a little over a week. No hard date has been set.

Work is still being finished on the surface of the bridge, department officials said. Until the road reopens, Highway 501 Bypass remains the detour for traffic.

City of Conway Spokesperson Taylor Newell said as far as the city knows, the road is still expected to to open before Memorial Day Weekend, which starts in nine days.

That is the weekend of the Bikefest event, also known as Black Bike Week, which will bring thousands of bikers through U.S. 501 into Myrtle Beach.

The bridge was expected to open in March, but in February it was announced the bridge’s repairs would take longer than expected due to unforeseen rust.

Originally built in the 1930s, the repairs were aimed at preserving the bridge and increasing its life cycle.