Each year, 14 million visitors head to the Grand Strand, and the majority of them drive here during the summer.
Tourism officials say most come from North Carolina. Those living in the Queen City lead the pack.
Jason Gaskins, who lives in Mooresville, NC, is a frequent visitor. "There's a lot to do. There's great restaurants. Obviously my wife and I, we love to be on the beach. It's a lot of fun."
Many roads lead tourists to our area, but the best way is often debated.
AAA Carolinas set out Friday to come up with the most efficient route from Charlotte and Durham to Myrtle Beach.
A total of eight teams participated in the experiment, including Gaskins.
The best overall route in terms of timing and fuel efficiency was driven by AAA's Tom Crosby. "I took (Highway) 218 out of Charlotte, after that I took 74 and then went into 38, 501 and then 22. Very efficient."
His trip took 3 hours and 36 minutes. Crosby also drove the speed limit. "I was very faithful in obeying it, and when I say faithfu,l I mean not even one mile over." AAA Carolinas says driving the speed limit helps with gas mileage.
All the teams had to take a 30 minute break.
The team with the fastest time traveled from Highway 74 to Highway 52, Highway 9, US 38, Highway 501 then Highway 22, driving slightly above the speed limit.
"Three hours and 18 minutes to be at the beach, that's not bad," added Gaskins. But AAA cautions against speeding, since it's a contributing factor in one third of accidents in South Carolina.
AAA says they give directions all the time to Myrtle Beach and would like to see one improvement, I-73.
"Myrtle Beach is one of the top tourist destinations in the nations. One of the things they need is direct access, and I think that would be beneficial to Myrtle Beach, beneficial to South Carolina, North Carolina also," said Crosby.
In the groups experiment, they encountered some well known bottleneck areas that include Highway 74 in Monroe, downtown Florence, and Highway 501 in Myrtle Beach.
