Pawleys Island
South end lot will be paved after two month closure
The largest free beach access in Georgetown County will have paved parking under a $417,113 improvement project due to start next week.
The county is using federal disaster funds and a portion of its road user fees to upgrade the beach access on the south end of Pawleys Island. County Council awarded the contract to the Ben Cox company last month. Work will begin Oct. 14. The parking lot is expected to close Oct. 21 and remain closed until Dec. 12, the county announced after a pre-construction meeting this week.
The parking area was washed over by the storm surge from Hurricane Dorian in 2019. Since then, the county has been working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to come up with a more “sustainable” facility, said Beth Goodale, the county director of Parks and Recreation.
FEMA funds will cover the cost of regrading the gravel parking area on the 3.3-acre site and rebuilding a handicapped-accessible dune walkover. County funds will pay for paving, including pervious concrete for the 74 parking spaces.
Portable toilets, a shed for a beach wheelchair and an old dune walkover that is now an overlook will remain.
Railroad ties that were used to mark parking spaces will be removed. The spaces will be marked with striping.
The paving will reduce maintenance and make the facility more accessible, Goodale said.
“That’s a huge thing. We can’t keep it the way it is,” she said. The work will “make that more sustainable storm after storm.”
The work is scheduled to start with the walkway and sand fencing. The work will then move into the parking lot. The project documents call for “minimizing parking lot closing.”
Update: This story was updated from the print version to include the expected closing dates.
