Myrtle Beach City Council plans to allocate $4 million annually for I-73

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to show Myrtle Beach City Council passed a resolution pertaining to how they intend to fund the construction of I-73 in Horry County.

Myrtle Beach City Council decided Tuesday to approve a resolution, which outlines their plans to fund I-73 for 30 years.

With Tuesday’s unanimous vote, the board declared their intention to contribute $4.2 million annually toward the interstate project with a 30-year bond. That would total $126 million.

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.

This comes after North Myrtle Beach City Council announced their intention to allocate funding for the project. Last Monday, the 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 resolution also lays out conditions. They include:

• Construction must be started by Dec. 31, 2024,
• There must be adequate funding from the state of South Carolina and the U.S. Department of Transportation for I-73,
• Funds for the city must be used for the actual construction of the interstate within Horry County,
• The state’s Department of Transportation must keep all records and share them with all parties and the public

The council would formally commit to funding the project once the request for proposal for the project is executed, according to the resolution.

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 wanted 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 13, 2021 at 3:23 PM.