COLUMBIA - Millions of tourists who flock to the Grand Strand will help pay for South Carolina's newest interstate highway if lawmakers agree to levy tolls on Interstate 73 that will eventually connect the coast with Michigan.

"Fourteen million visitors a year come to the Grand Strand, and as they do, they will be paying a toll," said state Rep. Doug Jennings, D-Bennettsville. "We believe this is the most logical and practical way to pay for this project."

Jennings and 14 other Pee Dee lawmakers have filed legislation in both houses of the General Assembly to allow the Transportation Department to charge tolls on the interstate, which will run 90 miles across South Carolina.

"South Carolina Interstate 73 will usher in a new day of economic progress for northeastern South Carolina," said state Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach.

The $2 billion interstate is the department's top new road priority, said Elizabeth Mabry, the department's executive director.

There are tolls in South Carolina on the Southern Connector - Interstate 185 - in Greenville County and the Cross Island Parkway on Hilton Head Island.

By May the department hopes to announce a preferred route for the southern section of I-73 from the Conway Bypass to Interstate 95.

Lawmakers said that if the toll is approved, the project could be completed in eight years.