This busy stretch of Myrtle Beach has $1M handrails. Here’s why they’re needed.
A busy stretch of downtown Myrtle Beach’s Ocean Boulevard has picked up a subtle new look that’s been more than a year in the making.
With a little bit of help from state lawmakers, the city has installed handrails along five blocks of one of its most distinctive streets.
They’re designed as an added safety feature for downtown pedestrians
In place from 7th Avenue N. to 12th Avenue N., the railings are meant to keep people from stepping in the roadway while also being visual cues about where the road stops and the sidewalk begins. Crews began erecting them in late July, working overnight to avoid summer traffic.
It’s a million-dollar project that marks the latest cash infusion into downtown
The General Assembly included a $250,000 earmark in this year’s budget to help pay for the $1.1 million project, with city funds covering the rest.
In addition to cars and trucks, Myrtle Beach allows up to 871 golf cart and moped rentals annually. City leaders issued permits for 675 golf carts this season. They can only be used on roads with speed limits of 35 mph or less and must be parked after sunset.
Officials rolled out the wave-and-dolphin design with an Aug. 5 post on the city’s website. The newly fashioned rails stop just short of the city’s 1.2-mile boardwalk, which itself underwent a recent $3.7 million renovation to replace aged wooden planks with synthetic plastic parts.
South Carolina is among the country’s deadliest states for pedestrians
Between 2016 and 2020, 811 pedestrians were killed across the state — ninth most in the U.S. according to Smart Growth America, an urban planning group that focuses on safety efforts in major cities.
Nationwide, pedestrian deaths more than doubled between 2014 and 2020, from 4,109 to 6,529 — a 58 percent jump.
Two of the country’s most dangerous metropolitan areas for walkers are located in the Palmetto State, Smart Growth America says: Columbia and the Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin markets.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The handrails run from 7th Ave. N to 12th Ave. N along Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. A previous version of this story misidentified a street. (Updated: 4:13 p.m., 9/6/2022.)
This story was originally published September 4, 2022 at 5:00 AM.