Highway location discussed

Area residents grumble at packed I-73 hearing

By Zane Wilson

The Sun News

MULLINS - They came in record numbers to the Interstate 73 location hearing here Tuesday, and some of them were mad.

At least 630 people packed into a sweltering room to stand three and four deep while poring over the huge maps of the expected route of the road.

"They're looking out for Horry County, but they're not looking out for us," said Steve Watson, whose Temperance Hill community in Marion County will be slashed by the road.

I-73 will be the first interstate to link to Myrtle Beach, which is the nation's largest tourism destination without such a link. The preferred route for the portion between I-95 near Latta and S.C. 22 near Conway was revealed in Columbia a few weeks ago. Last week, a public hearing on the route was held in Aynor. The next one will be Thursday in Dillon.

Highway planners said they do not blame people for being angry. Though many people came who were upset, they were not loud or rude about it.

"These are good people," said Skip Johnson, a planner with the state Department of Transportations consulting firm.

The number who came slightly topped the record of 613 for a state DOT hearing, which was also about I-73 and was set last year in Aynor.

Many of those who were the angriest would not give their name.

Some who were relieved that the road was not going to effect their property also would not give their names because they didn't want to hurt the feelings of their neighbors and relatives who are affected by it.

Caleb Snow was taking pictures of his neighborhood on the map with a digital camera, planning to print them out and share them with neighbors and family who could not attend the meeting.

Snow lives in the Lincoln Road community near Mullins and said he is concerned about an access road that will run alongside his neighborhood.

The road is to give access to a large farm field behind his neighborhood where the owner will be cut off by I-73. The access road won't mean much traffic so Snow said he is not too worried about it.

John Robert Gause and his son Curtis asked questions about how and when they would to get paid once their property is taken.

The elder Gause's auto mechanic shop that he has run for more than 30 years in the Zion community is in the path of an access road to I-73.

Gause said he is not upset about losing the shop because he is ill and has not operated it for the past few months.

But Curtis Gause said the two are worried about the people in Zion who will lose their homes or have their property values drastically reduced because the highway cuts through their land.

One reason the preferred route was chosen is that it would be less costly to build because it disrupts less wetland and other sites that federal law requires be avoided.

But many said those sites are not as important as people and their homes.

"People are more important than the cost of a road," said Vicky Jackson.

Watson said people in Temperance Hill will be cut off from their fire department and ambulance services. Others will not have their houses taken by the road but will lose so much value of their land they will not be able to sell it and move, he said.

"They didn't put much priority on people's homes and people," Watson said.

Many blame the Holliday family, which owns a lot of property around Galivants Ferry.

The historic community was on one of the earlier proposed routes but was spared by the preferred path.

Standing at one of the maps, Mason Gasque was blaming the Hollidays to Russell Holliday before he realized who he was talking with.

"We did not know," Holliday told him.

Still, Gasque appeared not to believe Holliday and said he wished his family had the Hollidays' clout.

Christy Holliday Douglas said her family's land is not being spared. Though the route skips Galivants Ferry, "it goes through thousands of acres of our property near Ketchuptown," she said.