Over 1,500 homes built along SC 90 in past decade. Can the highway handle more?
S.C. 90, a state highway connecting Conway and North Myrtle Beach, is approaching its capacity while improvement projects are still years away.
In the past 10 years, 1,602 new homes have been built along S.C. 90 and there are more to come, said Horry County spokesperson Adrianna Seals in an email to The Sun News. There are 11 major developments planned adjacent to the highway, with one completed, nine in progress and one that has not begun.
But can S.C. 90 handle the growth?
It appears certain parts of the highway can — but not for much longer.
“Almost the entirety of the corridor was identified to have deficient capacity as a two-lane highway in the projected horizon year conditions,” according to a 2024 study commissioned for the Waccamaw Council of Governments.
Since 2015, the number of drivers on the roadway has more than doubled in some areas, South Carolina Department of Transportation data shows. In the section of Highway 90 between East Cox Ferry Road and the start of Robert Edge Parkway, there were about 6,750 drivers per day; from the intersection of Highway 90 and Robert Edge Parkway to U.S. 17, there were 9,300 drivers per day.
In 2024, there were 14,700 daily drivers on S.C. 90 from East Cox Ferry Road to S.C. 22, 12,800 drivers from S.C. 22 to the start of Robert Edge Parkway and 12,600 drivers from the start of Robert Edge Parkway to U.S. 17.
This has left the two-lane highway congested during rush hour. The small scale of the highway can cause traffic to back up when there is a car crash or construction, as it forces the highway into one lane or ends up completely blocked.
The study from Waccamaw Council of Governments found that about 30% of cars are not able to drive at or near the speed limit on a given day on S.C. 90 from East Cox Ferry Road to International Drive. That number jumps to over 40% when looking at the section from the start of Robert Edge Parkway to U.S. 17.
Horry County has plans to widen S.C. 90, but it will not be done quickly. The road widening project, which will be funded by RIDE 4, would make S.C. 90 a four-lane highway with turn lanes at intersections from East Cox Ferry Road to S.C. 17, Seals wrote.
RIDE 4, an acronym for Road Improvement & Development Effort, is an elected effort that uses a 1% sales tax to fund road improvement projects in Horry County, The Sun News reported.
The S.C. 90 project is expected to cost $750 million and is the third most expensive project within RIDE 4, according to the Horry County website. As of June 18, it is estimated to take around 10 more years to finish the S.C. 90 widening project.
“The procurement for design and permitting services is underway now. Highway projects are very complex and typically take several years for design, permitting, utility relocation, and right-of-way acquisition,” Seals wrote in the email. “These projects will be designed together and built in phases. Construction typically begins around 6-7 years after design begins with construction likely being completed in the mid 2030’s. The final project timeline has not been developed at this point.”
