The highly anticipated Palmetto Pointe Boulevard extension project – part of Horry County’s Ride III effort – will begin construction in January 2019.
Horry County engineers say the extension will take nearly a year, and is planned to be complete by December 2019. The project will build off of Palmetto Pointe Boulevard’s dead end and connect to the Sayebrook Town Center to Big Block Road.
“We wouldn’t want to open the soil up and log the area in December because, throughout the winter, you have less sunlight to dry out the soil so it just works out and keeps the timeline shorter by doing it in the spring,” said Kelly Moore, Horry County spokesperson.
Moore says although construction will begin in January, soil will start moving in March.
Some homeowners next to the dead end road say they chose to live next to a wooded area for a reason and are upset with the planned change. Others, however, consider the extension an added piece of safety to get out of the neighborhood.
“Forest fires, we have woods back here, if there’s a fire, hurricanes, flooding, Palmetto Pointe floods, if you can’t get past it, you’re stuck back here,” Shaun Valentine said.
According to Horry County’s Ride III outline, the Palmetto Pointe Boulevard project will cost around $7.5 million. The work will construct an extension of Palmetto Pointe Boulevard to connect to SC Hwy. 544 at the Big Block Road intersection. The new road will include 2-lanes and bike/pedestrian facilities such as sidewalks and wider travel lanes.
