Roads
Improvements on Highway 17 top list in regional plan
Georgetown County has a second chance to get funding for improvements to Highway 17 on Waccamaw Neck that were approved by County Council in 2021.
Seven projects recommended in a study of the highway corridor ranked in the top 25 that will be included in the region’s long-range Metropolitan Transportation Plan. A proposal that would sync traffic signals from Litchfield through Murrells Inlet was the top ranking project in the region.
“Georgetown County did very well,” said Jenny Humphreys, a senior transportation planner for the consulting firm CDM Smith, which is drafting the plan for the Grand Strand Area Transportation Study.
The projects are among $53.4 million in improvements recommended by the corridor study conducted for the county by AECOM. After the council approved the plan, the county submitted a funding request to GSATS for just two in its short-term Transportation Improvement Plan. The request, estimated at $3.3 million, was the lowest of any local government in the region for a share of $70 million in federal infrastructure funds.
One of those projects, which will restrict left turns onto the highway at Litchfield Drive and Country Club Drive, is due to be added to the GSATS list of short-term improvements. The work will add traffic signals at Crooked Oak Drive and just north of Salt Marsh Cove to allow U-turns.
That project was also included on the list for the long-range plan, an indication of how well it scored in a competitive process, Humphreys said.
One reason is that the metric GSATS uses to rank road improvements gives more weight to safety benefits, said Mark Hoeweler, its executive director.
Other projects included in the draft of the long-range plan will close median cuts at various locations.
Also included is a fix to the intersection of Bypass 17 and Highway 707, which is at a failing level of service.
“That’s good news,” said state Rep. Lee Hewitt, who chairs the GSATS policy committee.
“It’s failing now and I think that some of the proposed plans they had in the corridor study, even if they had implemented them, was a D-minus,” he said.
Some officials have suggested that the only solution is an overpass.
The draft can be reviewed and comments can be made online at gsats.org.
