Today or Thursday will be the last opportunity before the General Assembly adjourns for the year for members to approve a resolution supporting the designation of S.C. 22, or Veterans Highway, as part of the proposed Interstate 73. The resolution also supports the naming of S.C. 31, or Carolina Bays Parkway, as part of the proposed Interstate 74.

The outcome rests in the hands of Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach. As chairman of the committee looking for a compromise between House and Senate versions of the bill, Elliott has the power to block it. That's what he did two years ago.

Rep. Tracy Edge, R-North Myrtle Beach, introduced the measure in the House, and Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, introduced a similar one in the Senate.

Elliott has said he supports the I-73 part of the resolution, but he has opposed the I-74 portion, saying the choice depends on the route North Carolina picks for it through that state. Edge has said Elliott is balking because his family owns property that could be in the path of I-74.

This week, Elliott needs to get behind the resolution rather than stand in the way of it. The measure carries no legal weight, but it would send a strong message to federal officials who control the highway-building purse strings that residents of our region want this interstate access.

It is absurd that the Grand Strand, the area of South Carolina draws the largest number of tourists into the state, is so far from an interstate.

Most Grand Strand leaders have worked hard to present a unified front on the matter. They get the economic importance of the road projects to our area. Elliott needs to get on board.