Horry County wants to spend millions on I-73, Highway 90 construction. Here’s the plan.
As Horry County leaders have discussed constructing Interstate 73 and widening Highway 90, a big question has persisted: How will the county pay for those projects?
At a county council meeting next week, county council member Dennis DiSabato, who represents part of Myrtle Beach and Carolina Forest, plans to unveil two spending plans toward both projects.
According to county records published Friday, DiSabato plans to introduce legislation that will put $4.2 million per year, for up to 30 years, toward constructing I-73, a major roadway project that will connect the Grand Strand to Interstate 95 and serve as the area’s first-ever interstate highway connection. DiSabato will also introduce a separate spending plan that will put $31 million, left over from previous road projects, toward widening Highway 90, a once-rural highway that’s pushed to capacity due to the development of new housing and businesses along its route.
Highway 90 was once a farm-to-market road connecting rural farms with Conway, but today serves as a 20-mile connection between Conway and North Myrtle Beach, with much of the road two or three lanes. During Hurricane Florence in 2018, portions of the road flooded badly, leaving some residents stranded in their homes with no way out.
I-73 has been imagined as a federal interstate highway that would connect the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to Myrtle Beach, running through Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. The southern leg of I-73 in South Carolina would run from I-95 near Latta and Dillon, between Marion and Mullins, between Aynor and Loris and end just north of Conway.
Both spending plans will only be minor contributions toward the total price tag of either project, but the plans still mark the most concrete steps county leaders have taken on the projects.
For I-73, the total cost of the project isn’t fully known. The South Carolina Dept. of Transportation has estimated the project could cost between $1.19 and $1.57 billion, while the Coastal Conservation League, which has fought environmental permits awarded to the project in court, has estimated the cost of I-73 could be $3.8 billion.
Horry County spending $4.2 million per year for 30 years on I-73 would contribute $126 million, or about 11% of the total cost if SCDOT’s most conservative estimate proves correct.
For Highway 90, county leaders have estimated that widening the full length of the road, about 20 miles in total, could cost around $500 million, though $200 million could help raise and widen crucial portions of the road that run through low-lying swamps. The $31 million would register as approximately 6% to 16% of that project’s cost.
DiSabato has proposed pulling the $4.2 million annual contribution for I-73 from the county’s 1.5% hospitality fee that it collects from hotel stays, restaurant meals and event tickets purchased in the unincorporated areas of the county. After settling a lawsuit with the City of Myrtle Beach that had paused the county’s ability to collect that fee, Horry County leaders determined earlier this year that the county could expect to collect around $15 million.
During its budget discussions this summer, county leaders ultimately split the $15 million hospitality fee funds into three buckets: One-third to hire 65 new public safety personnel, one-third to borrow and pay back $147 million for various local road and infrastructure projects, and one-third toward not-yet-identified road projects. DiSabato’s legislation would make I-73 that project.
To fund Highway 90 construction, DiSabato is proposing to pull the $31 million from RIDE II (Road Improvement and Development Effort II) program, a penny-sales-tax-for-road-projects program that ran from 2007 through 2014. Jason Thompson, the county’s engineer who oversees the RIDE programs, told council members last week the RIDE II had $31 million left over, with nearly all expenses taken care of.
As other council members began discussing what those funds could be used for, DiSabato pitched the idea of putting it toward Highway 90.
“I know where (Council member) Mark (Causey) is going with this,” DiSabato said. “You could theoretically take all $31 million and put it towards Highway 90.”
“Your choice,” Thompson replied.
While most county council members have agreed in recent months that raising and widening Highway 90 is a significant need, the spending plan for I-73 could face an uphill battle.
That’s due, in part, to county council Chairman Johnny Gardner’s opposition to funding I-73 before the state or federal government commits funding to the project.
“I like I-73, I’m for I-73, but Horry County can’t pay for it,” Gardner told reporters last week. “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.”
The who-puts-up-funding-first question is one that proponents of I-73 are well aware of.
“This is a very important three layer cake …we’re past the point of saying, ‘I’ll do it if you’ll do it,’” said Karen Riordan, the President and CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, which has been pushing for I-73.
The Chamber of Commerce earlier this week released a poll of 400 South Carolina voters showing that nearly three-quarters of respondents supported the project. Riordan said the Chamber plans to use the poll to lobby state and federal lawmakers to dedicate funding to the project, which the group hopes will lure new businesses and industries to the area and diversify the economy.
“When we ask (Rep.) Tim Rice (R-Myrtle Beach) and (Rep.) Jim Clyburn (D-Charleston) and (Sen.) Tim Scott (R-SC) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC)…they want to hear that there’s statewide support,” Riordan said.
Still, Gardner argued that Horry County had already funded part of I-73, in the form of Highway 22, which is where the interstate will ultimately connect and end. He said it should be on the federal government to show a commitment to I-73 before Horry County helps fund the effort again.
“You want to put pressure on someone, you want to put pressure on the federal government, you don’t do it by conceding, OK?” he said. “We want the road, but we want the federal government to pay for it.”
The spending plan will be discussed at Horry County Council’s Administration Committee meeting on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
This story was originally published September 25, 2021 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Horry County wants to spend millions on I-73, Highway 90 construction. Here’s the plan.."
