Representative William Bailey, of North Myrtle Beach, addressed American Conservative Voices last night about the status of I-73 funding as of April 12, 2022.
MyrtleBeachSC News received calls and texts throughout the day asking if we heard expected news that $300 million in funding would be in the Senate budget. Myrtle Beach City politicos expressed to us that they expected a deal would be cut between Senator Luke Rankin and Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler. They expected a press item by days end April 12th.
Bailey informed American Conservative Voices that the problem with I-73 was that while promises have been made of funding coming, the funding has never been coming.
“We don’t have the funding,” said Bailey.
Bailey said the S.C. Senate was now attempting to put up a proposal to amend the budget already presented by the S.C. House. Said Bailey, “If the senate puts up a proposal, then more than likely it will go in a private proviso. The proviso will probably be voted against and the state will have no money, most likely, in the budget for I-73.”
“If we are going to do it, we need to do it with Federal Funds,” added Bailey. Bailey told the group that everybody has road issues across the state. “When you ask a representative to vote for a project in Myrtle Beach over their home, then they’re not going to be there long [In the State House]” he added.
“Until we can get our arms around how to fund I-73, why not take advantage of Highway 9?… Because Highway 9 involves so many municipalities. It involves Cogs [Councils of Governments] in Darlington, Dillon, Chesterfield, Cheraw, and guess what, Highway 9 crosses I-95. It goes to the inland port, which is prime for us.” he said.
“But guess what you can do with I-95, the guys in the upstate, they would like to see it cross I-77, and eventually get to I-85 so it would be the longest four lane road in the state…. and the bottom line is, going from the Horry County line all the way to I-95 at Dillon is going to cost $317 million. They are fighting for this road in Dillon now. They have even offered to go into a 1 penny sales tax and create a funding source for their section of the road [to I-95],” said Bailey.
“That ain’t Horry County paying for it. That’s Dillon County paying for it,” he concluded.
At a $317 million total cost with Dillon County shouldering the biggest burden to get Highway 9 to I-95, Horry County can get an I-95 connector for less than $120 million dollars max.
Compare that to the $1.6 billion “low budgeted” cost to get I-73 from the coast to I-95. Horry County locals have to ask which option is better.
Most real estimates on I-73 from the coast to I-95 come in at around $2.6 billion.