Major road-building projects, possibly including those in Horry County, will get an extra $53 million that the state Infrastructure Bank garnered when it refinanced its bonds.

Don Leonard of Myrtle Beach, chairman of the bank, said Friday that $338 million of the bonds were refinanced.

Some of those bonds are already supporting major Horry County road projects such as the Carolina Bays Parkway, also called S.C. 31, and Veterans Highway, formally known as S.C. 22.

Leonard, a real estate broker who was appointed to the bank earlier this year by Gov. Mark Sanford, said at his first meeting that he was interested in refinancing the bonds because of the low interest rates.

The bank has reached the limit of the amount of bonds it is allowed to sell to raise money to lend to local major road projects.

The savings will mean more money to lend for road projects.

"The current market conditions and very favorable interest rates provided us with a unique opportunity to capitalize on savings that will provide additional money to the bank for South Carolina roads, highways and infrastructure," state Treasurer Grady Patterson said.

Leonard said the Infrastructure Bank is the largest program of its kind in the country.

Horry County's road projects are about $1.2 billion; the county provides about three-fourths of that from a hospitality tax.

The bank also has helped fund major projects in Rock Hill, Beaufort, Anderson, Greenville-Spartanburg and Aiken. The biggest project is the new Cooper River bridge in Charleston.

"Many of these projects would still be on the drawing board were it not for the grants and assistance provided through the bank's innovative financing," Leonard said.

Priority projects awaiting aid from the bank include the southern half of the Carolina Bays Parkway and a connecting road from U.S. 17 in North Myrtle Beach to the parkway.