Poll shows a majority of SC Residents support I-73

Recently, WPDE-TV in Myrtle Beach (ABC) and the Zogby International conducted a statewide poll on how residents view I-73.

We asked two questions. The first, whether South Carolinians feel it's important to build an interstate to Myrtle Beach. A clear majority say yes, it's important.
Statewide:
66% - important.
33% - not important
1% - unsure.

When asked whether an interstate should be built to Myrtle Beach for hurricane evacuation purposes, the number jumps. Not only that, the number who believe it's "very" important is higher in the midlands and lowcountry, than it is here on the coast.
Statewide:
82% - important
18% - not important

Disclaimer:

The article doesn't state how many residents were polled and what the margin of error is/was. The poll seems to have been done at the same time the station and Zogby ran a statewide poll for the SC Presidential primaries. In one poll, 512 South Carolina Republicans were polled with a 4.5% margin of error. No data was given on the amount of Democrats polled, quite possibly around the same.

So possibly 1000 South Carolina residents may have been asked about I-73 in this poll.

Story:
Massive support for interstate to Myrtle Beach --WPDE-TV

Commentary:
The results don't surprise me, and the article does state the biggest benefit to this poll is that lobbyists (The I-73 Corridor Association) can and will use this data to influence state and federal funding to the project.

There is no doubt that better and more efficient evacuation routes from the Myrtle Beach/Grand Strand Area is necessary. Currently, US 501 is the only full four lane highway that runs from I-95 to the beach. The route is at-grade which makes reversing lanes (a feature used on Interstates and other freeways for coastal evacuation) next to impossible. SC Highway 9 is another four-lane highway that leads out of North Myrtle Beach. However, it is a two lane highway that runs through small towns for 34 miles north of Green Sea to Dillon and I-95, and to my knowledge there are no plans to upgrade SC 9 to a four lane here.

Because I-73 will be access controlled, local authorities and SCDOT's ability to reverse the highway is much easier. Gates can be used at southbound ramps blocking traffic from getting on the highway when a reverse flow is in use. One example of this is in Georgia on Interstate 16.

I haven't seen studies of this yet...but I would be interested in seeing how much evacuation traffic I-73 would hold, and how much of an improvement in evacuation time and flow I-73 will have over existing plans.

Comments

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