CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – The state department of transportation gave a better look at an estimated $65 million project to widen U.S. Highway 701 north of the city.
Some residents living between Conway and Loris say highway 701, like many other roads in Horry County, has gotten busier in the last few years.
“It has become more difficult to get on 701 from some of the off-roads,” said Mike Vogel, who lives near the proposed widening. “We live on one of the off-roads.”
That’s why the SC DOT and Horry County propose making 701 wider, as one of 14 projects in the Ride III program.
“This road has an average annual daily traffic count of 18,000 vehicles,” said Stacey Johnson, the project’s manager with SC DOT. “That’s a lot for a two-lane road.”
About four miles of 701 would be widened from South Carolina Highway 319 to the Conway Bypass off-ramp. Highway 701 would expand from two lanes to five, including a center turn lane. Traffic lights would be added, as well as a sidewalk, from SC 319 to a Santee Cooper substation.
SC DOT met with residents Thursday to explain the project and listen to what they want 701 to look like.
“We want to hear what people that travel the road every day, maybe some parents who bring their kids to school, just what they see,” Johnson said. “Our traffic counts won’t show everything all the time.”
The Vogels say they’re not against a wider 701, but hope it doesn’t attract too many vehicles from Loris or North Carolina traveling to Conway or the beaches.
“I’m a little bit concerned about how long the project will take and the actual road itself,” said Peggy Vogel, “and if that will bring more traffic because now there’s a bigger road and we’ll end up living off (U.S. Highway) 501 again.”
Like all the other Ride III projects, it’s very early in the 701 widening process.
Right now, the schedule is for construction to begin in spring 2022 and finish by fall 2024.
