A highway from the South Strand out past Conway has long been the stepchild of Horry County transportation planning. Residents of the southern part of the county have watched for years as farsighted county leaders secured innovative financing to build the massive Conway Bypass (S.C. 22), most of the Carolina Bays Parkway (S.C. 31) from Little River to Socastee and a host of major improvements to more local routes.
Even now, the proposed Interstate 73 overshadows any southern Conway bypass. But the I-73 project involves such a high-level coordination of federal and state resources that South Strand leaders see room for their road, now known as the Southern Evacuation Lifeline, as a top local priority.
Indeed, support for the project seems to run in the bloodline of South Strand leaders. Outgoing Horry County Councilman Howard Barnard promised to bring it to a reality, and State Rep. Nelson Hardwick convincingly says he would not be in politics today if the road had been built.
And yet, the road’s value to the rest of the county and the Grand Strand as a whole has always been subject to debate. Environmentalists in particular have opposed the project, concerned that it is intended merely to make the Bucksport area a new target for developers looking to build yet another community “just minutes from the beach.” Some South Strand residents near its end point worry that it will bring too much traffic near their neighborhoods.
For The Sun News editorial board, the central question surrounding SELL is one of overall need. With its $600 million or $700 million price tag, this question is even more pertinent. For years, we have argued that the decision on the project ought to be driven by data. And, as yet, we do not believe the data has been delivered.
South Strand community leaders and engineers from Civil Engineering Consulting Services (the Columbia-based firm working toward the road’s construction) identify three primary purposes for the road: aiding with evacuation, alleviating traffic and providing a new access over the Waccamaw River in the 40-mile stretch between Conway and Georgetown.
The first two goals are near universal. A true hurricane evacuation from Horry County is a nightmare to even contemplate for the south end. While any evacuation ought to be called far enough in advance of a storm to allow sufficient time for an evacuation, the potential for an arduous trip out is certainly there.
Alleviating day-to-day traffic may not be as important a goal, but it is certainly a more practical one. Traffic snarls on the south end make a mockery of the term “bypass” and only grow worse as the area’s popularity grows.
It is the third goal we find more questionable. Bucksport-area residents likely have more need for a river crossing to the South Strand than vice versa, yet it is always the south-end community leading the charge for the road. And the closest possible analogue to the SELL, S.C. 22, is perhaps the most under-utilized road in Horry County.
The fundamental question to answer about SELL is whether it is the best use of our transportation money. For that same $700 million or so, could Horry County buy improvements to U.S. 17, S.C. 544, S.C. 707, U.S. 501 and their various interchanges to ease evacuations and alleviate traffic on roads already much more heavily traveled by locals than the SELL likely would be?
The project’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement, an impressive 300-page document that examines eight possible routes for the SELL, proves conclusively that Horry County’s transportation network still needs major attention. It fails to compare SELL’s efficacy with that of a corresponding set of improvements to existing roads, however, and this omission strikes us as a serious shortcoming.
The engineers argue that because improvements to the existing roadway fail to provide a bridge over the river, that set of options does not deserve study. We disagree. A final version of this study is the next step in the planning process, and a study of improvements to the existing roadways ought to be included in it.
A path across the river – with all the costs it will entail, both financial and environmental – still seems merely one possible solution our needs, not a need itself demanding to be filled. If crossing the Waccamaw turns out to be the best way to save lives during a hurricane and improve traffic flow, then and only then can we support it.
