DILLON - Farmers, environmentalists and other land owners came here Tuesday to examine plans for the Interstate 73 project, an interstate thoroughfare that will link Myrtle Beach with communities as far away as Michigan.

The residents examined large maps of seven possible routes for the highway during the first round of public-input sessions held at Dillon High School.

The session could mean changes for the project. Owners of farmland in Aynor and the Galivants Ferry area asked the Department of Transportation on Tuesday to move the highway routes farther from their land, DOT spokeswoman Debbie Harwell said. All of the proposed highway routes run through the Aynor area.

"Some of the routes may be altered," Harwell said. "They have old family farms in the area, and they want them to stay old family farms."

The DOT hopes the meet-
ings will gauge public support of the proposed I-73 routes and help the project move past initial planning stages.

The potential routes show I-73 passing near Dillon and nearby Latta, then traveling southeast through Aynor, swinging north of Conway and following S.C. 22, Veterans Highway, to Myrtle Beach.

"We've sort of developed a path of least resistance," said Fred Kicklighter, manager of road design for the LPA Group, lead consultant on the project. "These are the corridors we want to study further."

The DOT says the new highway will relieve congestion, promote jobs and tourism, and provide a new hurricane evacuation route.

Plotting a course requires the DOT to consider environmental effects on sensitive areas such as wetland, and how the new highway might affect churches, schools and other community facilities, Kicklighter said.

Ed Page has two farms outside Latta but said he supports the highway.

"I think it couldn't do anything but help," Page said. "It should promote some growth and tourism."

In that area of the state, U.S. 501 cuts a path through mostly rural countryside populated by small towns, gas stations and fireworks retailers.

But U.S. 501 and the other roads are highly stressed in the summer months when the Grand Strand tourism season heats up and crowds pour into the beaches.

The Rev. Darrell Floyd, pastor of Reedy Creek Church just south of Marion, said his congregation often must wait 15 minutes to pull from the church parking lot onto U.S. 501 in the summertime.

"We are going to be relieved because it will steer traffic away from us," Floyd said.

The new interstate also will affect the natural environment, said Nancy Cave of the Coastal Conservation League.

The proposals show I-73 could cross the Little Pee Dee River in two places.

"The Little Pee Dee is a beautiful, untouched river at this point," and the crossing could damage it, Cave said.

In addition, I-73 will have major secondary effects on the natural environment by spurring growth in the already booming Grand Strand area, Cave said.

"There isn't an interstate that has been built that hasn't had major environmental impacts," she said.

The state is about a third of the way through the planning process, and it is unclear when funding will come or construction will begin.

More studies must be done before a final route is chosen.