The construction to extend the left turn lane at Carolina Forest Boulevard is finished.
The reason for the lane is to help ease the backup at the highway 501 intersection. But, despite the lane being less than one day old some drivers don't like it.
"I'm no engineer but I would assume you need some kind of a bridge or some kind of an interchange that's not going to work,” said Peter Dee who lives in Carolina Forest.
"Either way it still backs up traffic,” said Kathalyn d'Agostino, “It's really frustrating, I mean we go through that traffic light four or five times a day and you just never get home."
Drivers told News 13 that the construction to extend the left turn lane onto Highway 501 isn’t the real solution to easing the congestion. They said Horry County failed to address the real problem; a long traffic light.
They say a slow-changing traffic signal where the intersection connects to the beach route takes so long, that many drivers end up running the red light.
“Every time I go there it's backed up I don't know if they don't have their lights synchronized enough," said Robert Lovaty.
Horry County's Infrastructure and Regulation Committee did the extension by 275 feet with the mind set of fitting an extra 12 cars to turn on to 501.Drivers however tell News 13 that they don't understand how that could help ease congestion when the real headache is the traffic light.
The construction project was one week ahead of schedule. Final painting will take place next week.
The project cost about $40,000.

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