MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW)- On Thursday South Carolina Administrative Law Court Judge Ralph King Anderson made a decision in regard to the paving project on International drive. After several attempts to compromise, the judge sided with South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control and Horry County Public Works.
Judge Anderson claimed that the South Carolina Conservation League and the South Carolina Wildlife Federation did not prove that a “significant negative impact” on the animal population would occur as a result of the construction project.
Anderson refuted the idea on the grounds that the conservationists weren’t able to prove that the tunnels to allow bears to cross the roadway would be any safer than the current speed limit regulations and putting up fencing to keep animals off the road.
In the court documents, the judge wrote “there was also agreement between witnesses on both sides that the difficulty of fixing locations for tunnels” and that deciding where the proposed tunnels would go would be a challenge as bears have a tendency to “go where they want to go.”
There were even conversations that the fences put up to direct bears to the tunnels could potentially cause more problems by trapping the animals on international drive.
The road was supposed to be paved in 2013, but a legal battle over bear crossings stalled the project.
The original plan was to make the road two lanes and include three bear tunnels. A few years later, the county proposed an expansion, making it five lanes, and taking out all of the bear tunnels.
On Thursday, Judge Anderson also approved the DHEC’s Water Quality Certification and Coastal Zone Consistency Certification.
