$38M OK'd for now to improve traffic flow
Last Updated on 2/11/2012
Published on 6/28/2009
By Tim Callahan
timcallahan01@aol.com
A draft of almost $38 million worth of traffic improvement projects has been approved and allocated for Georgetown County by the Grand Strand Area Transportation Study (GSATS) policy committee.
Georgetown County's list of approved and allocated projects, with estimated completion dates, includes intersection work in Pawleys Island at U.S. 17 and Waverly Road ($375,000 by 2009); U.S. 17 and Sandy Island Road ($665,000 by 2009); Kings River Road and Hagley/Tyson Drives ($170,000 by 2010); and constructing a median from the No. Causeway to Martin Luther King Drive ($2.5 million by 2012).
In the city of Georgetown, intersections will be improved at U.S. 17 and Venture Drive ($550,000 by 2011); and U.S. 17 and Front St. ($260,000 by 2009).
There is also $200,000 apiece approved and allocated for Georgetown Middle and Waccamaw Elementary schools' "safe routes to school projects," said Mark Hoeweler, planning director.
The draft list was approved by the policy committee on June 20, according to County Councilman Glenn O'Connell, a committee proxy for Council Chairman Johnny Morant. O'Connell was at the June 20 meeting.
The draft list will become final if no public input is forthcoming, O'Connell said. If there is input, the policy committee will meet again for final approval.
A public hearing for Georgetown County residents is scheduled for July 1 at 2 p.m. at the offices of WRCG, located at 1230 Highmarket Street in Georgetown.
With so many potential projects vying for placement on this list, making the list is quite an accomplishment, O'Connell said, and ensures the work will be done.
"Some of the projects may not get done be by the year on the list, but they will get done," O'Connell said.
O'Connell said the new big thing on the list for his district is a median on Highway 17 in Pawleys Island, from in front of Walgreen's to just past the Holiday Inn Express.
"There is a reason the suicide lanes are called suicide lanes," he said. "Safety is first." Appearance is another plus to the medians, he said, pointing to Litchfield as an example of how things could look.
Of the $37.82 million approved and allocated for Georgetown and Horry Counties, $16.7 million comes from federal stimulus package funds.
The other $20 million is also from the federal government, O'Connell aid, and is filtered down to the state Department of Transportation (SCDOT), who then uses GSATS to prioritize and allocate and approve projects, O'Connell said.
Hoeweler said GSATS is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the Myrtle Beach Urbanized Area. WCRG and DOT planners are designated as MPO staff, he said.
