GEORGETOWN - Officials with the S.C. Department of Transportation said they will hire a consultant by the end of the year to do an environmental study as the first step toward building Interstate 73.

The highway, if built, would provide an interstate link through the Grand Strand.

The highway would have a link to a highway in North Carolina and could run parallel to S.C. 9 and the U.S. 501 corridor while bypassing small towns, said John Walsh, deputy state highway engineer for the S.C. DOT.

Walsh said Congress has given $3 million to do the impact study and the highway will cost about $1 billion.

"This is going to be a long journey," he said.

"We still have to go through environmental work and public involvement."

Walsh and Mark Pleasant, chief of statewide planning for the S.C. DOT, are traveling to nine counties, including Georgetown and Horry counties, to share information about I-73.

The study will:

help identify conceptual corridors in a 5,000-square-mile study area;

deal with highway access, since I-73 would be a controlled-access facility;

and identify impacts and costs associated with improving U.S. 501 and S.C. 9 to interstate standards.

The tiered environmental-impact study will be done in phases, the first time this has been done in South Carolina. The highway, which would be one of the largest in South Carolina, will support economic growth, Walsh said.

Councilman David Hood asked whether anything could be done to bring the highway to Georgetown.

"We're taking input in whatever format you choose," Walsh said.

In other business, the council approved a proposal from the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office to add air patrol, with the use of a Cessna piloted by a retired agent from the State Law Enforcement Division.

The plane will patrol Georgetown County at no additional cost to taxpayers, said Georgetown County Assistant Sheriff Carter Weaver.

The Sheriff's Office will pay $16,000 in two installments during the next year, out of its reserve fund.

"This would give the Sheriff's Office a year's worth of documented proof that it is a successful program, without added costs to the taxpayer," Weaver said.

The pilot will maintain the aircraft and would not limit the number of hours he will fly, Weaver said.

He said the plane will assist in taking aerial photos of crime scenes, scoping out fields of marijuana and finding missing people.

"In the past calendar year, we needed an airplane in a double murder case," Weaver said.

"We spent many hours looking in rural areas with four wheelers. We needed aerial photos of these farms and outbuildings prior to acting on search warrants."

The council also passed third reading on a revised employee handbook that spells out an at-will employment policy. The county wanted to clarify that employees are not under contract and can be fired for any reason.

County employees still will have a right to grievance procedures.