Do you support I-73? A new poll finds majority support across South Carolina
Do you support I-73?
If so, you’re in good company in South Carolina.
A new poll released Wednesday shows between 73% and 79% of South Carolina voters support the funding and building of I-73, a major interstate highway project that would have a Southern leg running from I-95 near Florence to Highway 22 near Myrtle Beach. The highway is slated to cost upwards of $1 billion.
The poll was commissioned by the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce and conducted by Starboard Communications — a Columbia-based political consulting firm run by Walter Whetsell who’s run campaigns for U.S. Rep. Tom Rice (R-Myrtle Beach), Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune and Republican members of the South Carolina legislature — and surveyed 405 South Carolina voters via phone between July 23 and 27.
The poll found that, before pollsters gave respondents more information about the project, 73% of them supported funding and building I-73. After pollsters gave respondents additional information about potential benefits of I-73, support jumped to 79%, the poll found.
And in South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District, which includes Georgetown, Horry, Marion, Darlington, Marlboro, Chesterfield and Dillon counties as well as parts of Florence County, 82% of respondents said they support I-73.
“Voters in South Carolina understand that infrastructure like I-73 is vital to support the exponential growth of Horry County and surrounding areas,” said state Rep. Case Brittain (R-Myrtle Beach) in a news release accompanying the survey results. Brittain also chairs a national group advocating for an interstate highway from Michigan to South Carolina.
The poll, according to the Chamber of Commerce, will primarily be used to lobby state lawmakers to appropriate funding for the project. Karen Riordan, the CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, said the group commissioned the poll because it wanted fresh data to point to when working to convince lawmakers both in and outside of Horry County.
“We wanted it to be current, we didn’t want to be saying, ‘Hey, we think support is very strong,’ and point to a survey that was done in 2019 pre-COVID,” she told The Sun News Wednesday. “I wanted to make sure we had the most current finger on the pulse of how voters were thinking.”
The poll comes at a key moment for the Chamber as local, state and federal lawmakers have recently begun discussing how they might foot the $1.2 or $1.3 billion bill for the project. Earlier this year, Horry County and the City of Myrtle Beach settled a lawsuit over the collection of a hospitality fee, which was related to I-73. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled against an environmental group that had challenged federal wetlands permits granted to the project.
Following the end of the environmental group’s lawsuit, leaders in Horry County, Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach began discussing a way to raise $250 million to put toward I-73 in hopes that those efforts will convince state lawmakers to kick in $500 million and the federal government another $500 million.
But pulling such a large amount of money together is unlikely to be a simple task, as some local leaders believe the federal and state governments should commit funding to the project first to show the county and cities they’re serious about making the project a reality. Horry County Council Chairman Johnny Gardner, for one, said that’s how he feels.
“I like I-73, I’m for I-73 but Horry County can’t pay for it. Horry County cannot put one penny towards I-73 unless or until the federal government makes a commitment and the state government makes a commitment,” Gardner said following Tuesday’s county council meeting. “We have never received one penny from the federal government or the state government for Horry County’s portion of I-73 and we’re not going to commit any money to I-73 because it can’t get done without that money.”
Other local leaders believe that if the county and cities commit money to I-73 up front, it will make it easier for state lawmakers and the federal government to allocate funds to the project.
That’s a problem that Riordan said she’s well aware of.
“We’re trying to use this poll to galvanize our state delegation,” Riordan said. “This is a very important three layer cake …we’re past the point of saying, ‘I’ll do it if you’ll do it.’”
The poll sampled a representative slice of South Carolina, with 48% of respondents men and 52% women. The respondents were 69% white, 18% Black and 13% some other race and 37% Republican, 25% Democrat and 37% Independent, “other” or “unsure.” The respondents also tended to be older, with 1% of them being between 18 and 24, 22% of them being between 25 and 44, 39% being 45 to 64 and 36% being 65 or older. Two percent of respondents declined to give their age.
Pollsters asked voters general questions about I-73 before providing them with additional information about how the interstate project could potentially benefit the Grand Strand, asking questions like: “I-73 would eliminate much of the traffic congestion on Highway 501, the major artery leading into Myrtle Beach. Knowing this would you be more or less likely to support I-73?” and “Independent studies have shown that building I-73 will attract more than 29,000 new year-round jobs to South Carolina. Knowing this would you be more or less likely to support I-73?”
After asking those questions, the poll found that 85% of respondents were more likely to support I-73 if it was a good evacuation route, 80% were more likely to support it if it brought more jobs to the area and 78% were more likely to support it if it reduced traffic congestion. Respondents also said they were more likely to support the project if they knew local leaders supported it and were willing to fund it, and if the road would eventually bring more tax revenue to South Carolina.
Those responses, Riordan said, will color how the Chamber lobbies lawmakers as it works to convince them to fund the project.
“The evacuation route is really front and center for a lot of people,” she said. “We’re still in hurricane season.”
The Chamber of Commerce supports I-73, Riordan said, because it believes it will bring new industries and businesses to Horry County and the Grand Strand, helping the region diversify its economy. To that end, the Chamber’s chief lobbyist, Jimmy Gray, serves as president of the National I-73/I-74/I-75 Corridor Association board, a group that’s working in six states to try to get funding for an interstate highway that will ultimately run from Northern Michigan to Myrtle Beach.
I-73 has been conceptualized and discussed as a future project for more than three decades now. As South Carolina determines how it will spend a pot of COVID-19 relief funding, and as federal lawmakers debate President Joe Biden’s multi-trillion dollar infrastructure package, Riordan said she hopes the poll will move the needle locally.
“There is the statewide support that we suspected was there,” she said. “This gives us some new talking points, some new ways to converse with our state lawmakers.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Karen Riordan’s name.
This story was originally published September 22, 2021 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Do you support I-73? A new poll finds majority support across South Carolina."
