Horry County opens new bridge, moves on to more road projects

Horry county officials unveiled the new Fantasy Harbour Bridge with a ribbon cutting Wednesday. Now that one project has been checked off more road construction projects are next in line. Those projects are paid by the of the “Ride on a Penny” sales tax hike that voters approved a couple of years ago.

One of those major projects is the backgate of the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base where construction is slated to begin in summer of 2010.

A spokesperson with the South Carolina Department of Transportation said an overpass will be built between highway 707 and US 17 Bypass.

That overpass is something some drivers who constantly use the busy Grand Strand intersection say will be a big driver stress reliever.

“It’s very frustrating this is I think the worst intersection around,“ said driver Bruce O’Handley who just bought a house near Market Common.

DOT officials also said that the overpass will help ease delays that usually back up on those heavily travelled roads.

“A lot of times the whole thing just pollutes and plugs up just because everybody is going to the same area I think it’d be the best traffic thing around that they could do,“ O’Handley said.

O’Handley wasn’t the only driver anticipating the new addition. Brian Leonard said it’s definitely no fun sitting in a long line of cars with his grandchildren—especially when the temperatures get hot.

“We come down to market common quite a bit and you know we go to the theater in fact that’s where I just had the grandchildren and we were over there watching the new ice age movie and we always get backed up down here,” said Leonard.