North Myrtle Beach City Council announces annual contribution to construction of I-73

North Myrtle Myrtle officials agreed unofficially Monday to allocate funding to the I-73 interstate as long as their conditions are met.

This comes as municipalities across the Grand Strand discuss options for supporting the roadway, which has been a controversial infrastructure project for some decades.

North Myrtle Beach City Council approved a resolution Monday that expresses their intent to dedicate $1.7 million annually for a number of years for the construction of I-73. It is not clear how many years they would fund the project.

The interstate would run from I-95 and connect with Highway 22, near Conway. The price tag for I-73 is estimated at about $1.6 billion.

The city’s hospitality tax revenue would be used to meet the stated amount, officials said in a press release emailed to The Sun News on Tuesday.

The resolution comes with a list of conditions that must be met. They include:

• Funds must be used for the actual construction of I-73 within Horry County, and not any other roadways,
• Funds should not be used for engineering, legal services, environmental studies, etc.,
• Horry County municipalities must participate in funding it,
• Construction must start on or by Dec. 31, 2024

The council will make a formal financial commitment once the request for proposal for the project is executed, according to the news release.

In October, Gov. Henry McMaster said he’d pledge $300 million in state funding to the Interstate 73 highway project during an announcement before local and state lawmakers at the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. That day, he said he wants funding for the major roadway project to come from the American Rescue Plan funds and the 2022 state budget. The state legislature will still have to vote to approve the funding.

The local contribution for I-73 would be about $350 million, the federal contribution would be $430 million and the state’s would total $795 million, according to the South Carolina Department of Transportation.

Following McMaster’s pledge, Horry County leaders gave an initial approval to a funding package that would have contributed $4.2 million of the county’s annual hospitality fee collection to I-73 for 30 years, but council members later voted the plan down. County leaders have not brought forth any other plans to fund I-73 since then.

This story was originally published December 8, 2021 at 9:47 AM.