MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – A federal judge’s recent ruling continues to delay advancement of the Interstate 73 project.
Judge Bruce Hendricks ruled on Wednesday the South Carolina’s Coastal Conservation League’s allegations against the project will not be dismissed.
The league seeks to stop the project, claiming alternative to the project, such as widening existing highways, have not been considered. The group also claims the project is based on outdated environmental studies.
I-73 would run from Myrtle Beach to I-95 and beyond. Horry County already has agreed to give SCDOT between $23 and $25 million a year for the project. The total project will cost about $2.4 billion, according to the conservation league.
Some of the conservation’s claims in the suit have been dismissed, but the judge refused to dismiss the entire suit. The remaining allegations were not approved by the judge but merely ruled to be properly presented.
The Conservation League released an independent study analyzing an alternative, which is outlined on its website.
Defendants listed in the lawsuit by the conservation group include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Charleston District; the commander of the district, the chief engineers, the secretary of the U.S. Army, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Christy Hall, South Carolina Secretary of Transportation.
In related action, the judged dismissed the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce’s attempt to join the lawsuit. The judge ruled the chamber has a commercial interested in the project, but not a legal one.
