South Carolina now to lead six state effort to complete Interstate 73

And that's what the "Special Announcement" was during the I-73 funding summit in Columbia this past Monday.

Nelson Walker, 76, who founded and heads the I-73/74 Corridor Association handed over the reigns of his lately inactive group over to the Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce. In 1991, Walker began what would evolved into the I-73/74 Corridor Association in Bluefield, West Virginia. The goal was to petition for funding to make much needed improvements along the US 52 corridor within the state. The group went to United States Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-WV), who would start the groundwork that lead to the creation of the I-73 corridor (a six state highway running south from Michigan, through Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, before ending in South Carolina.) later that same year.

Since then, North Carolina has been the only state to have parts of I-73 open and signed to traffic. South Carolina is agressively pushing to build the highway, while Virginia is still studying the route. West Virginia has sections of the highway open, but those will need to be upgraded to Interstate standards. Michigan and Ohio have shown little to no interest in building the highway.

As for the actual 'funding summit', no new news was reported. South Carolina is looking at a public-private partnership in building the highway.

For more see: The Myrtle Beach Sun News

Commentary:

It appears that this 'summit' was a staged event to announce that the I-73/74 Corridor Association will now be operated out of Myrtle Beach. As the need for a funding solution to build I-73 becomes closer to reality, staged events like these will not be accepted by the citizens of South Carolina.

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