Myrtle Beach area road closures, changes to affect Memorial Day traffic. What to know

Memorial Day weekend and the Atlantic Beach Bike Week will bring road closures and changes to traffic patterns as thousands of people come to the Myrtle Beach area to kickoff the “busy” summer season.

U.S. Highway 17 and Ocean Boulevard in both Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach are expected to be the busiest roads.

That includes Myrtle Beach’s summer “flushing” plan along Ocean Boulevard and North Myrtle Beach’s plans for the annual Atlantic Beach Bike Week, where many of the event’s attendance takes place in neighboring Atlantic Beach and North Myrtle Beach.

North Myrtle Beach

North Myrtle Beach will implement a traffic chute for Atlantic Beach Memorial Day Black Pearl Cultural Heritage and Bike Festival, also known as Black Bike Week, by placing barricades along U.S. Highway 17 from 37th Avenue South to 25th Avenue South.

Any drivers attending the Bike Festival will need to stay in the designated lane, the city said.

Bike Week takes place from May 23 through May 26. Barricades will be removed May 26.

Officers from statewide agencies will also be in North Myrtle Beach to bolster police presence , according to an email from Public Information Officer Lauren Jessie.

North Myrtle Beach police officers are there to answer questions and interact with anyone visiting the beach for memorial day, Jessie wrote in an email.

The city will also be enforcing quite hours from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. daily, Jessie added.

Violators may be arrested or fined $1,000.

Myrtle Beach

The city of Myrtle Beach will make Ocean Boulevard one-way and drivers will use the southbound only.

The changes will take place from 12:01 a.m. Friday, May 23, and ending Monday, May 26.

Northbound traffic on Ocean Boulevard will be reserved for emergency and police vehicles, according to a Myrtle Beach press release.

There will be 10 access points to Kings Highway from Ocean Boulevard:

• 21st Avenue North
• Mr. Joe White Avenue
• Ninth Avenue North
• Third Avenue South
• Ninth Avenue South
• 13th Avenue South
• 19th Avenue South
• 25th Avenue South
• 27th Avenue South
• 29th Avenue South

Drivers cannot use Chester Street, Withers Drive or Yaupon Drive as a cut-through, the release said.

In addition, golf carts are prohibited on Ocean Boulevard, from 29th Avenue North to the south end of city limits, beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday, May 23, and ending Monday, May 26, when traffic control devices have been removed from Ocean Boulevard.