Myrtle Beach council looks to extend Fred Nash Boulevard, but keep traffic median at Shetland Lane and U.S. 17 Bypass closed

The median at Shetland Lane and U.S. 17 Bypass that is temporarily shut down might not reopen again as city leaders try to find ways to fix the dangerous intersection.

City Council prefers to extend Fred Nash Boulevard to Harrelson Boulevard and will consider that plan next year. The council, which talked about the intersection during a special workshop Thursday, nixed the idea of putting another stoplight on U.S. 17 Bypass at the Shetland Lane intersection, where several crashes have occurred this year.

“Personally, I’m not sure that a traffic light will ever be the answer at that intersection. I think if you put a traffic light there, that will continue to be a dangerous intersection,” Councilman Mike Lowder said. “What makes more sense to me is to keep it blocked off and let’s figure out a way to connect Nash Boulevard into Harrelson and make that work.”

Fred Nash Boulevard from Farrow Parkway to Emory Road and the median cut used to access Shetland Lane along U.S. 17 were closed Dec. 3. City leaders expect both to remain closed for three months while crews work to construct a traffic circle that will service a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market and other businesses. The median was closed to prevent motorists from crossing the busy bypass to turn onto Shetland Lane.

Several serious traffic collisions have occurred at that intersection this year, including two fatalities. Southbound traffic on U.S. 17 Bypass is now forced to loop back around to reach the right-lane turn onto Shetland Lane and motorists hoping to turn left onto U.S. 17 Bypass off Shetland are forced to loop back around at the Harrelson Boulevard interchange.

Even though the median closure has been inconvenient, Lowder says, “at the end of the day, it’s probably the safest thing that we’ve done.”

A business owner lobbied for a traffic light to reopen full access to Shetland Lane, after telling the city council last week her business has suffered since the median closure.

Robin Martin, owner of Joe’s Diner by the Airport operating on the corner of Shetland Lane and Fred Nash Boulevard, said she lost 40 percent of her business in a week’s time when the boulevard and median were closed.

A traffic light “allows for the southbound traffic to go across Shetland very safely and then it also slows down some of that traffic that … is coming over the new bypass,” she told the council. “The bridge that was put up there was a tremendous idea, but consequently the flow of traffic doesn’t stop. … Before Shetland people could cross it because there would be a lull because of the stoplight but now there’s no lull there at all. And that’s just made it … more dangerous.”

She said a light there would also help the extra traffic that will be generated by the new Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market being built at the corner of U.S. 17 Bypass and Farrow Parkway by providing another access to U.S. 17 Bypass.

City Manager John Pedersen said the city had no plans to ask DOT to remove the barriers along U.S. 17 Bypass and to reopen the busy bypass’s left turn onto Shetland Lane while construction continues on Fred Nash Boulevard.

“That was something we did recommend being closed because of the safety issues that were brought to our attention by the parents of Palmetto Academy,” he said. “In our estimation, trying to go across there to take that left was a very, very dangerous move. DOT has actually thought about this before and this is not a new issue for them.”

Assistant City Manager Ron Andrews said when DOT built the bridge, crews gave it a dedicated u-turn lane probably with plans to close the median in the future.

“It was never brought to the businesses’ attention,” Martin said. “We invested our life savings in that business and now our revenue is down 40-50 percent. People are going to lose their jobs and it’s a shame. It really is a shame.”

City council members, at their meeting last week, offered to renew the city’s previous efforts of getting DOT to put a traffic light at the intersection. But they backed off that Thursday. Lowder said extending Fred Nash Boulevard to Harrelson Boulevard would be the better route.

The Fred Nash extension to Harrelson Boulevard, estimated at $19.3 million, might end up in the RIDE III list of projects to be paid for through a 1-cent sales tax for roads.

On Thursday, the RIDE III Sales Tax Commission -- the group tasked with crafting the list of projects for a referendum next fall -- said Fred Nash might be one of three projects it adds to the list once it has a better idea about the amount of money it might have left from RIDE II and the State Infrastructure Bank.

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Myrtle Beach council looks to extend Fred Nash Boulevard, but keep traffic median at Shetland Lane and U.S. 17 Bypass closed."