Myrtle Beach | What to expect on Memorial Day weekend

Residents in Myrtle Beach will notice a difference in the way Ocean Boulevard looks this Memorial Day weekend after officials have put a number of plans in place to make the weekend safer.

The biggest change this year will be a 23-mile traffic loop in effect from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. May 22 to 24 with the goal of keeping traffic moving and cutting down on street parties, which officials say lead to violence.

The loop routes drivers from 29th Avenue North on Ocean Boulevard south and around to Kings Highway, north to Harrelson Boulevard – which turns into George Bishop Parkway – west to Waccamaw Boulevard, which runs next to U.S. 501, onto S.C. 31 heading north to Grissom Parkway south, then onto U.S. 17 Bypass and down 29th Avenue North.

Also different this year, the city will not have its usual Military Appreciation Days parade and picnic on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend this year, with officials opting to move it to May 16 instead.

There will be a veterans march down Ocean Boulevard that begins 9 a.m. May 25 from 16th Avenue North to the former Myrtle Beach Pavilion site between Eighth and Ninth avenues North. The march will precede the city’s annual Memorial Day service at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center at 11 a.m.

Myrtle Beach also is bringing back a dedicated emergency lane and only allowing one-way traffic on Ocean Boulevard from May 22 to 24 – 24 hours a day – beginning at 29th Avenue North.

Myrtle Beach fire Chief Alvin Payne said ambulances will be staged along Ocean Boulevard at 18th Avenue South, Fifth Avenue South, and Ninth Avenue North.

Bike racks will line both sides of Ocean Boulevard to keep pedestrians separate from vehicular traffic – another strategy officials say will keep street parties to a minimum.

New this year in Myrtle Beach is a traffic chute set up on Kings Highway at 29th Avenue North to control festival traffic to Ocean Boulevard.

All of Myrtle Beach’s officers – around 220 – will be working Memorial Day weekend, and this year they will be easier to see.

Officers will wear shirts with bright yellow on them to not only make it easier for those in need to spot them, but also to make their presence known.

Each officer will be assigned to patrol smaller areas of Ocean Boulevard this year, covering a three- to four-block area as opposed to a five- to seven-block area last year.

Myrtle Beach police spokesman Lt. Joey Crosby said officials have not yet determined how many officers will be assigned to each three- to four-block area. Last year, about four officers were assigned to the larger area.

Capt. Amy Prock told Myrtle Beach City Council April 14 that the city has signed mutual aid agreements with 270 in-state municipal officers, 150 state police officers from South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and 30 constables, who are volunteer police officers.

Technology and traffic control equipment also will be highly visible throughout Myrtle Beach.

The city will pay $930,000 to purchase 10,000 barricades, barriers and traffic cones over the next three years. Myrtle Beach police officials have about 200 body cameras that are in use that cost about $200,000.

Myrtle Beach also is in the process of installing 800 cameras at 200 locations throughout the city, with a focus on Ocean Boulevard and the beach accesses. The cameras cost about $800,000 and the infrastructure to support them will cost the city about $1.3 million over three years.

Last fall, the city spent $140,000 for a SkyWatch surveillance tower, which Crosby said will be used somewhere along Ocean Boulevard on Memorial Day weekend.

This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach | What to expect on Memorial Day weekend."