Highway 17 in North Myrtle Beach is being widened to three lanes from the Cherry Grove exit to 11th Avenue North.
/ Lisa Edge
Construction cones will soon be gone from parts of North Myrtle Beach. The three phase project cost a total of $6.1 million and began in 2001.
During phase one, crews widened the northbound lanes from two lanes to three lanes from 2nd Ave N. to 11th Ave N. During phase two, the widened lanes were extended to the northbound side of the Cherry Grove exit.
The final phase, adding a third lane to the southbound side of Highway 17 in the same area, is expected to wrap up at the end of November. Once it's finished, all of Highway 17 in North Myrtle Beach will be six lanes .
State Representative Tracy Edge helped secure the funding needed for the road work. He says as the area became more developed so did the congestion on the road.
"With the opening of the Robert Edge Parkway and the expansion of the highway through this area we will have solved a lot of traffic problems on this side of the waterway," explained Edge. "This is an example of government getting ahead of the curve."
Edge says he's now focusing his attention on extending the Carolina Bays Parkway to North Carolina and widening Highway 90.
