Posted on Mon, Jul. 31, 2006

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Grants for Horry roads go before bond committee

By Zane Wilson

The Sun News

A $40-million grant to start work on an extension of the Carolina Bays Parkway will be before the state Joint Bond Review Committee on Tuesday.

The state Infrastructure Bank proposes to issue $269 million in bonds to fund the Horry County project and others. The bank board approved the bond issue last month. The Bond Review Committee must also approve.

Release of the money is contingent on passage of a special 1-percent sales tax for road projects in Horry County. The proposal is expected to be on the general election ballot in November.

Horry County asked for $150 million to extend the parkway, also known as S.C. 31, from its current end point, at S.C. 544, to S.C. 707, and to widen to four lanes S.C. 707 to U.S. 17 at Murrells Inlet.

The project would create a new connection from the Murrells Inlet area to the parkway and later to the proposed Interstate 73.

The Infrastructure Bank had $300 mil-
lion to award to high-priority state transportation projects but decided to pay for only part of the Horry County request for now so that other projects could also receive money.

Those include a $93 million loan to the state Department of Transportation to widen to four lanes a dangerous stretch of U.S. 17 in Beaufort and Colleton counties.

The bank said it is committed to fund the entire $150 million for Horry County when more money is available.

County officials said they will use the money to start buying right-of-way and making detailed construction plans.

The entire project is expected to cost $282 million.

Since the bank was founded in 1997, Horry County has received $352 million from it for $1.1 billion in projects including S.C. 31 and S.C. 22.

The county has paid 49 percent of those costs with a special hospitality tax, the highest of the required local shares for bank-funded projects.

Lexington County paid 48.8 percent of its $125 million project, the second highest local share.

Also on the Bond Review Committee agenda is a request to increase the budget for a Coastal Carolina University building renovation project.

The Student Center renovation was scheduled to cost $482,480 from state bond funds, and the school is asking to increase the budget to $1,100,480.

The additional money will come from a gift and from a capital project fund.

The extra money will allow the school to remodel the building rather than simply replacing the roof, heating and air conditioning.

Also on the agenda is a request from Horry-Georgetown Technical College to approve the use of $20,000 in local funds for an appraisal of a building on the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base that will be used for part of the school's allied health program.

The Bond Review Committee meets at 11 a.m. in Room 105 of the Gressette Senate Office Building in the Capitol complex.