Budget surplus and federal dollars could fund I-73 and local roads, SC lawmakers say
As local leaders have pursued funding for Interstate 73, a new highway that would connect Myrtle Beach to I-95 near Dillon, a common critique has emerged: Why build a new highway when local roads also need repaired or improved?
At the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce’s annual “legislative luncheon” several South Carolina lawmakers — including state Sen. Greg Hembree (R-Little River), state Rep. Tim McGinnis (R-Myrtle Beach) and state Rep. Thomas “Case” Brittain (R-Myrtle Beach) — said they believe the state has enough surplus funding to start addressing both I-73 and local Horry County roads.
For one, the lawmakers noted, South Carolina’s economy is “roaring” and the state has a $3 billion budget surplus — with about $2 billion being one-time funds that could be used for infrastructure projects — that legislators will be able to divvy up and spend.
Then, the lawmakers noted, South Carolina lawmakers have to spend about $8 billion from the American Rescue Plan that the federal government sent the state as part of a COVID-19 relief package. Federal rules have said only small portions of that money can be used on infrastructure and roads, and Gov. Henry McMaster has said he’d like to use those dollars for I-26 upgrades near Columbia and I-73, though the legislature will have the final say.
And finally, the lawmakers pointed to President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package that he signed into law earlier this week. That $1.2 trillion package will send $6 billion directly to South Carolina, and the state could be eligible for other pots of money included in the package as well.
Put together, Hembree, McGinnis and Brittain said, the state will have plenty of money to spend on roads and other projects, and that they feel the Horry County delegation will have leverage to bring big sums of it home.
Brittain, for one, sounded a confident tone Tuesday and said he believes Horry County lawmakers like himself would be able to bring back more funding for roads and other projects than they’d been able to bring back in past years.
“I think what’s important for us in 2022 is to make sure we go back up there, (and request) not so much a fair share, I’m ready to take more than we deserve because we put in for so long,” Brittain said. “It’s time for us to get more back.”
That argument hinges on the fact that Horry County’s tourism economy sends more tax dollars to Columbia than it receives back from the state for things like roads, bridges and schools.
Despite South Carolina being flush with cash, the lawmakers noted, the public may see funding for I-73 come ahead of funding for other projects, like Highway 90, because the interstate is considered “shovel ready” while engineers are currently studying specific projects for improving S.C. 90.
Environmental assessments and engineering studies for S.C.-90, for example, have to be completed before the county and state can widen that road, they said.
“With Highway 90, we were told by SCDOT in a meeting not too long ago, if we had all the money today, which we don’t, it wouldn’t be at least 10 years before we would be able to widen it,” McGinnis told the assembled crowd of business leaders and local politicians.
I-73, he added, is “shovel ready, it’s ready to go. And all we need is that funding.”
Some residents, though, have said they wish leaders would speed up work on local roads like Highway 90. Audrey Hudson, a resident who lives along Highway 90, told Horry County Council members on Tuesday that she’d like to see a smaller-scale plan so that improvements to the corridor could made in coming years.
“We don’t need a (Highway) 544 or a (Highway) 707, especially if it’s going to take decades. I’d like to see something built in my lifetime,” Hudson said. “Scale it back and widen the road with shoulders and a turning lane.”
Experts with the Grand Strand Area Transportation Study are currently working out plans for improving Highway 90.
The funding surpluses, though, could allow local lawmakers to start funneling money to S.C. 90 and I-73, Hembree said. Even if a project isn’t considered “shovel ready” lawmakers will still be able to make requests for funding, he said.
Hembree and McGinnis, for example, have said they’ll work to get $100 million for Highway 90 next year. And Gov. Henry McMaster has said he’d like the legislature to allocate $300 million for I-73 when lawmakers begin their regular sessions in January.
“It’s not like we’re sitting here just talking, these are things that are legitimate asks, asked at a good time,” Hembree said.
He predicted that the surpluses will lead to lots of negotiating in Columbia over which projects receive funding.
“I will tell you, it will be like hogs at the trough,” Hembree said. “And there will be it will be ‘sooie’ and they’ll be coming from everywhere.”
Still, politicians at both the federal and state level have said in recent weeks they believe the federal infrastructure package will be able to provide needed funding for I-73. Hembree added that local projects could win funding through it, too.
The package, Hembree said, “has added a new dynamic in a very positive way to finding money to fund both I-73 and Highway 90 and other projects that we’re going to be doing in South Carolina.”
The state lawmakers on Tuesday also reiterated their support for I-73. Brittain has said he views the interstate as a key evacuation route for the area in the event of major storms or hurricanes, and Hembree said it could take “pressure” off of main arteries like U.S. 501 and S.C 9. McGinnis added that Horry County would be able to attract new industries and better paying jobs if it had interstate connectivity.
“Just imagine the type of people we can attract, the COOs of the world, the people who will really stimulate our economy,” he said. “That will give us the money for the things that we need to build so that the burden is not just on us as residents.”
Hembree agreed, noting that the children and grandchildren of Horry County residents “could leave” the area if better jobs aren’t available to them. He said he’s been in economic development meetings where business leaders have asked why the area doesn’t have interstate access.
“That’s what you hear, you know, ‘When are you going to get the interstate?’” he said. “That’s the question they always ask.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 6:58 AM.
