It was announced on Tuesday that the permit has been issued to begin the construction of I-73.
While the excitement of those at Myrtle Beach over this news is understandable, it should be equally understandable to our Grand Strand neighbors that many in Dillon County will be less than thrilled with this news to say the least.
In 2011 when the Dillon County Council was asked to pass a resolution of support for the interstate and the matter was initially discussed, our then Dillon County Council Chairman Archie Scott made the statement and posed the question that was on many minds at the time. He said that I-73 was going to be good thing, but the question was “for who?” It is still a relevant question.
No doubt, Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand area will be the big beneficiaries of this interstate, and I-73 will create a huge economic impact for that area. It will be a wonderful thing for tourists anxious to get to their beach destination.
It was difficult to see then, and it is difficult to see now how it is going to be a good thing for Dillon County and especially the City of Dillon. It is possible that it may be beneficial to Inland Port Dillon and perhaps a handful of other industries in some way; however, it would seem that it wouldn’t nearly be as beneficial to the Inland Port or others as our already existing I-95.
It seems that I-73 will bring more negatives than positives for Dillon County.
Dillon County will become a “pass-through” county on the way to the beach. Many travelers, who would normally take Highway 9 to the beach and patronize some of Dillon’s businesses such as restaurants, gas stations, and convenience stores, will likely just head on down to I-73 and bypass Dillon altogether. This will create a negative financial impact for Dillon.
So, if a few restaurants lose some business, how does that affect us? Let us not forget that our Dillon City Council has a hot meals tax that helps fund the wellness center, our golf course, and other tourism-related things. It has been stated on many occasions that tourists pay a large portion of what is collected so if tourists are bypassing us to go to I-73 then it would surely have a negative impact on these funds and these businesses that employ our friends and neighbors.
It was stated by an I-73 advocate at that time that it would create a number of temporary construction jobs for Dillon County; however, there were no guarantees or promises made that all or any of these jobs would go to Dillon County citizens or that they would even be given preference. Some permanent jobs will be created, but it seems likely that those jobs will be in the Grand Strand area.
In early campaign efforts, the slogan, “Pathway to Progress,” was used to market I-73 to the public, but perhaps letter writer, Nell Vincent, stated it best when in 2011 she said, “In reality, Dillon County’s sacrifice is providing the ‘pathway’ so Myrtle Beach can get the ‘progress.’” The truth is that the founding fathers of I-73 could have worked to make this more beneficial to Dillon County, but they didn’t. We deserved better than we got from them. Dillon County is much more to those of us who live here, work here, and rear families here than just a pathway.
