Segment 19

   
Where: Carolina Bays Parkway Extension from US 17 near Hickman Road, Brunswick County to SC Border

Length:     Approx. 4 Miles 

Needed:   Construct New Freeway

When:      Sometime after 2016


Under the latest I-74 routing proposal, first announced by Governor Easley in 2003, where the interstate would follow the NC 211 corridor from US 74-76 near Bolton to the US 17 Shallotte Bypass, I-74 would then follow an upgraded US 17 south for about 12 miles until just north of the SC border where it would jog slightly west and then south on a new highway that would connect with an extension of the Carolina Bays Parkway (SC 31) (approximated on dotted line on map above). (1)  (To see a map of this proposed routing created by the NCDOT Statewide Planning Branch for the Strategic Highway Corridors project, click HERE). (2)) On February 11, 2005 SC and NC agreed upon a deal whereby North Carolina would build I-73 from the US 74 freeway near Hamlet, NC to the SC border in exchange for SC to finance building a 5-mile extension of the Carolina Bays Parkway from SC 9 to the NC border. NCDOT would then build a new 3 to 4 mile freeway from US 17 to the border to tie into SC's extended Parkway, all of which would then be designated I-74 (or a spur of I-74). (3) (All if this I-74 segment would be tolled under a recent proposal to the North Carolina Turnpike Authority, for more see the I-74 Segment 18 Page).

NCDOT worked on a feasibility study for the Parkway extension in NC, but the money ran out at the end of 2006 (see below). The feasibility study was given a number, FS-0303A in the Draft 2007-2013 STIP (4), but was dropped from the final document. (For a detailed look at the study area, go to NCDOT's Carolina Bays Parkway Extension (CBPE) Study website: http://www.ncdot.org/doh/preconstruct/tpb/SHC/cs/studies/cbp). NCDOT and SCDOT held joint public workshops on the Carolina Bays Parkway connector proposal in Ash, NC and Little River, SC in February 2004. (5)  At a meeting on October 11, 2005 in Shallotte the public was invited to comment on six alternative corridors for the CBPE. The response was overwhelmingly negative to most of the proposed alternatives, four of which would take out the landscaped entrance to the Brunswick Plantation. Public input was to be used to narrow the choice to three alternatives by the end of the 2006, though announcement was made public. When a final alternative is to be chosen, yet construction would start on this highway, is unknown. Currently there is no money for the project and the project is not even listed in the NC state transportation plan. (6) It is also unclear when this highway would be signed as I-74 (or perhaps an I-74 spur) since its contingent on the upgrading of much of US 74 east of I-95 and US 17 south of Wilmington to interstate standards, projects currently either not funded or also not listed on the State Transportation Improvement Plan. In September 2009 there was a push by the town of Little River to speed up construction of the Extension since their town was getting the bulk of the traffic exiting from the current highway's northern terminus. A spokesman for SCDOT stated that I-73 was the state's priority and there is no money currently to fund the CBP Extension project. If construction were to occur it probably wouldn't be for 7 to 9 more years. (7) Thus it appears unlikely to happen before 2016 and it could be stalled a decade or more after that date. A project to build a Rest Area/Welcome Center for I-74 at the state line is included in the latest 2009-2015 STIP (Project K-4001), but the project is unfunded. (8)

Sources:  2002 ADC Carolina Road Atlas
(1) WRAL TV. 2003. "Easley Announces Strategic Transportation Plan" Downloaded from http://www.wral.com/traffic/2180629/detail.html, May 5, 2003.
(2) NCDOT. 2004. Strategic Highway Corridors. Strategic Highway Corridors Vision Map-Southeastern NC. Downloaded from http://www.ncdot.org/planning/tpb/SHC/PDF/shc_vision_map_southeast.pdf
(3) Wilson, Zane. 2005. "Carolinas Reach Interstate Deal." The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, SC). February 12.
(4) NCDOT. 2006. State Transportation Improvement Program, Draft, 2007-2013, Division 3, p. 3-6.
(5) NCDOT. 2004. NCDOT and SCDOT to Hold Workshops on Proposed Extension of Carolina Bays Parkway in Brunswick County (Press Release). Feb. 5. Downloaded from http://www.ncdot.org/news/carolinabay02_04.html, Feb. 15.
(6) Jones, Steve. 2005. "Public Get Personal in Scrutiny of 6 Highway Routes." The Sun News (Myrtle Beach, SC). October 12.
(7) Ross, A.J. 2009. "Little River Calls for New Road Project." WMBF News.com. September 23. Downloaded from: http://www.wmbfnews.com/ Global/story.asp?S=11171869 9/23/09.
(8) NCDOT. June 2008. State Transportation Improvement Program, 2009-2015, Division 3, p. 3-10.

I-74 shield courtesy of David R. Kendrick's Shield's Up!.