MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – The Myrtle Beach Police Department held the first of this year’s Memorial Day Weekend business outreach meetings on Friday. It was for local business owners to learn about rules and regulations affecting property owners.
Lt. Joey Crosby laid out MBPD’s plan for the Memorial Day weekend event, stressing that their visibility will be enhanced, but their enforcement will remain the same as any other time of year or event.
Lt. Crosby also gave advice on how to navigate the 23.1 mile traffic loop, which will follow the same route as last year, have the same hours and is expected to have roughly the same amount of officers out on patrol.
Ocean Boulevard will remain one-way headed south for the duration of the Memorial Day weekend, with the north-bound lane for emergency vehicles and wreckers to access. 16th Ave N, 8Th Ave N, 6th Ave S, 17th Ave S will be considered emergency lanes and closed to ordinary traffic.
During the 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. hours the traffic loop is in effect, traffic congestion has been an issue for travelers in past, so a new route for taxi drivers has been established to access the airport.
“We’ll also have our taxi officer at the airport during this weekend to help the travelers get to and from their destinations,” explained Lt. Crosby, “but also to help the taxi drivers with any route questions they may have.”
A new taxi layer added has been added to the map services website, which allows drivers to navigate around the loop and get a live look at current conditions like road closures. The website can create a route to avoid getting inadvertently caught in the 23-mile loop.
Police hope to launch an android version for cell phones by Memorial Day, “the Apple version unfortunately will not be available to them,” said Lt. Crosby. Even without the app, users can still access the police department’s website on their cell phone by using a browser.
Crosby said it was important to reach out to businesses, especially those with workers trying to navigate the loop, to and from work. “We are asking the business owners to try and work with their employees and if they can let them come in earlier or excuse them later so they’re not impacted by this traffic loop.”
“We have employees that get off at twelve and another shift that comes on at twelve which is actually during the loop,” said Ray Booth, the general manager at Oceans One Resort, a hotel along Ocean Boulevard.
Booth says employees have been able to manage the loop okay the past two years, but if they do get stuck, they have the option to stay at the hotel, “according to the occupancy, but we’re not going to be short staffed.”
Booth says traffic conditions along Ocean Boulevard has also impacted the number of guests at the resort, “it can eliminate a little bit of walk in traffic.” But he says it’s worth it, to keep the event safe for visitors.
“From the time in 2014, when you had the Boulevard blocked up for hours at time with stopped traffic, it’s totally 100% better,” said Booth.
There will be another Memorial Day weekend business outreach meeting coming up this Friday April 21st. It begins at 8:30a.m. at the Sheraton Myrtle Beach Convention Center hotel.
