NCDOT's
official I-73 corridor until early 2005 ended at the US 220/US 74
interchange. It was long proposed that I-73 would be routed to the
South Carolina border from the US 74 Rockingham Bypass freeway to
South Carolina along a new US 1 freeway to be constructed just to the east
of the existing highway. This was shown in may NCDOT publications.
(1) NCDOT has a project (Number R-2501) to widen US 1 from the South
Carolina line northward and build a new US 1 Bypass east of Rockingham,
I-73 was thought to be routed on this highway. Design of this project
started in 2003, with construction for the upgrading of the current
highway up to the bypass estimated to cost $40.5 million beginning
in 2013. (2) South Carolina, however, was never convinced this would
be the ultimate route for I-73. That state announced in 2004 that it
was committed to building it's portion of I-73 and said it was waiting
to start studying possible highway corridors west of I-95 until North
Carolina made up its mind where the interstate would cross the border.
SC Senator Lindsey Graham, R-Seneca, warned an Horry
County audience in the summer of 2004 that a speedy route choice for
SC would forestall a NC congressional delegation bid to route I-73
through southeastern North Carolina rather than northeastern South Carolina. (3) Though SC wanted NC to make
up its mind, further routing it along US 1 would have placed the highway
in some environmentally sensitive areas and added to its construction
cost. SCDOT officials invited their counterparts from NCDOT to an I-73 Summit
meeting on February 11, 2005 to discuss the issue after which a new
official routing to the border was agreed to. Instead of using US 1, I-73
will cross the border near where NC 38 does, approximately 8 miles further
east. NCDOT would help finance an SCDOT study of potential I-73 routings
from US 74 to the border. (4) This more easterly route reduced
construction costs in both states and allowed SC to go ahead with its
I-73 corridor planning activities.
On July 19, 2007 SCDOT officials unveiled their chosen alternative
from among 6 potential corridors that were first unveiled in the fall of
2006 for I-73 to travel from US 74 (Future
I-74) to I-95 near Latta, SC. These included two potential paths in North
Carolina. Initially one ran from just west of where NC 38 hits the SC border
running about 2 miles north paralleling SR 1825 (Airport Road) to the US
74 Bypass approximately 1 mile east of the NC 177 exit (this was later modified to
meet Future I-74 near the NC 38 interchange). The other alternative corridor was
slightly longer, indicated as 3 miles long by an SCDOT official at a public
meeting, but 5 miles in the STIP, as it has I-73 crossing the border two
miles east of NC 38 heading northeast, then turning to paralleling the
border for about 1/2 mile then turning back north meeting US 74 just to
the west of the current site of the NC 38 interchange. The preferred alternative
chosen was the longer easterly corridor (to view a map of the preferred
and alternative corridors go HERE). Hearings at
Bennetsville, SC and in Hamlet, NC in August 2006 allowed the public to
comment on the preferred alternatives, while no one objected to the chosen
North Carolina routing, many South Carolina residents preferred the western
corridor closer to Bennetsville rather than the chosen central corridor for
economic reasons. (5) On August 10, 2007 SCDOT got permission from the FHWA
to build I-73 as a toll road that SCDOT would manage or through a public/private
partnership where investors would pay for construction and operation and
be paid back through toll revenue. (6)
The NCDOT Draft
2009-2015 STIP lists the project to build its portion of I-73 from US 74
to the border as Number I-4923, the entry listed for 'planning and environmental
study only at the present time', thus it is not a priority. (7)
No official
construction timetable has been set for construction of this part of I-73,
however a 2005 article suggested construction could start as soon as 2009
with an estimated completion date of 2012. (8) It is unknown what affect
SCDOT's plan to build I-73 as a toll road will have upon this timetable
for construction, or whether NCDOT would seek permission to toll this portion
of the interstate too.
Sources: 2002 American Map Corp. North Carolina Atlas.
(1) NCDOT. 2004. Strategic Highway Corridors Vision
Map, for example, go to: http://www.ncdot.org/planning/tpb/SHC/PDF/SHC_Vision_Map.pdf
(2) NCDOT. Nov. 2007. State Transportation Improvement
Program, Draft, 2009-2015, Division 8, p. 8-29.
(3) The Sun-News. 2004. "I-73 Picture Brightens." (Editorial).
The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, SC). July 24.
(4) The Sun-News. 2005. "Carolinas Reach Interstate
Deal." The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, SC). February 12.
(5) Root, Tonya. 2007. "Owners See Who's in Road's Way." The Sun
News (Myrtle Beach, SC), August 29.
(6) Fuller, Kelly Marshall. 2007. "Tolling on I-73 Gains Federal Approval."
The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, SC), August 11.
(7) NCDOT. Nov. 2007. State Transportation Improvement Program, Draft,
2009-2015, Division 8, p. 8-30.
(8) Vergakis, Brock. 2005. "States Hammer Out Routes, Funding." The
Sun News (Myrtle Beach, SC), August 2.
I-73 Shield
courtesy of David R. Kendrick's Shield's
Up! .
Segment 13
