Marion County officials were out in full-force Friday to rally support for the construction of I-73. More than 80 people attended a community meeting at the Milton Troy Sr. Banquet Hall in Mullins to learn of the possible impact the project may have in the future.
The path of the interstate to expect to travel through Zion and directly between Marion and Mullins across U.S. 76., towards the beach area.
Marion County councilman Milton Troy II said he was pleased with the turnout.
“The crowd kind of exceeded a lot of expectations,” he said. “This just goes to show you though that the folks in Marion County are behind this 100 percent.”
The group “I-73 for S.C.” organized the event, which features city, town and county council members, along with community leaders and business partners from Marion, Marlboro, Dillon and Horry Counties – all pathways which the intestate will travel.
Guest included Brad Dean with the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, Gary M. Loftus director of Coastal Carolina University's Center for Economic and Community Development and Danny Isaac Jr. outgoing Chairman of the S.C. Department of Transportation (SCDOT) Commission Danny Isaac Jr.
Marion County had the state's highest unemployment rate, 17.9 percent for the month of December and has consistently held the position since 2006. Benefits of the project include enhanced safety, new business opportunities, traffic reduction along with short and long-term employment opportunities. The most important factor is the facilitation of interstate commerce and jobs.
Loftus provided an overview of the economic impact with special interest to the county.
The economic impact could be immediate with an estimated 7,700 annual jobs created by construction and an additional 22,000 jobs in the state once completed, Loftus said.
Isaac said there was one message he wanted the public to come away from the meeting.
“A message of hope,” he said. “To convey to the people that we’re no longer going to call this the corridor of shame. We’re going to call this the progress of hope, the interchange of hope.”
Troy said the next step is pursuing funding that has already been approved to begin construction.
“It’s going to happen. We’ve been talking about it a long time but it will happen. We just got to keep the faith, we got to keep plugging and we got to stay on the commissioners, the governor, all of our people so that we can get this highway through here.”
For more information visit www.i73forsc.com
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