Rep. Tom Rice on I-73: ‘We’re going to be turning dirt within a year.’
U.S. Rep. Tom Rice is convinced that 2022 will be a pivotal year for Interstate 73.
“I think we’re going to be turning dirt within a year. We’re closer than we’ve ever been,” he told constituents in North Myrtle Beach.
Rice, at a series of town hall events Wednesday, struck a confident tone about the long-planned highway that would give the Grand Strand its first-ever interstate highway connection.
That confidence, Rice said, comes from his belief that South Carolina lawmakers will honor a request from Gov. Henry McMaster to dedicate $300 million to I-73 this year to jump start construction.
“The governor said we’re going to get it, I take him at his word,” Rice said.
Rice’s comments come less than a week after McMaster himself struck a similarly confident tone about I-73 receiving state funding this year. Rice has explained in interviews that if the state and local governments pledge money to I-73, the project will be eligible for a federal grant to complete the project.
“I think we’re going to get it done this year,” McMaster told reporters in Myrtle Beach on Friday.
I-73 would run from S.C. 22 near Conway to I-95, near Latta and Dillon, and then continue north to the state line. There, I-73 will eventually connect with North Carolina’s version of I-73.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation has estimated $350 million of I-73’s funding will come from local governments, $795 million will come from the state and the final $430 million will come from the federal government. That puts the price tag of I-73, from S.C. 22 to I-95, at $1.6 billion.
So far, Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach have voted to dedicate part of their annual hospitality fee to I-73. Horry County has identified a similar pot of money for the project but haven’t yet taken a formal vote to spend that money.
If South Carolina lawmakers dole out $300 million for I-73 this year, Rice said, the project will be underway and will be completed, potentially within a decade.
“Once they start building, they’re not going to stop,” Rice said. “We’re getting there. It’s a slow, painful process, but we’re getting there.”
Rice, though, said that Horry County leaders are currently standing in the way of I-73.
He took issue with an argument several county council members have made in recent months, that they’d be willing to fund I-73 if the federal and state governments dedicate funds first.
That’s not how major infrastructure projects get funding, Rice said.
“We have people saying ‘We want the federal government to put up their money first.’ Well that’s not how it works,” Rice said. “The state and locals put up their money, and then they apply for a grant with the federal government, and the federal government says, ‘Oh gosh, if they’re willing to put up all this money, then maybe this is a project that we should fund.’”
Horry County Council members used part of a recent meeting to criticize a mailed advertisement about I-73 sent by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. During their remarks, some members reiterated their stance that they’d only fund I-73 if federal and state money came first.
“County Council is the linchpin,” Rice added. “We’ve got to have them come up with their share.”
Rice has said he’s a proponent of I-73 because he believes it will lure new companies and better jobs to the Grand Strand and the rural counties in his district.
“That is the number one thing holding everyone back because no industry, no industry of significance, is going to want to be here and have to deal with U.S. 501,” he said.
“We’ve got to have that road.”
