Fantasy Harbor bridge under construction.
A long-awaited traffic connection for the Grand Strand is finally open. It's a bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway that many people hope will help relieve congestion on the area's busiest roads.
Nick Katsanos, who owns a carpentry shop near the new Fantasy Harbour Bridge, didn't come to the opening ceremony to meet the dignitaries or see the ribbon cutting. He's just excited about the new bridge.
"I think it'll be very good for the community, for the people who have businesses back here, and the children going to the park, from south, coming into the area," he said.
The bridge will be a huge boost to Freestyle Music Park, where attendance has been lagging. The park is hidden behind a bankrupt outlet mall on one side. The bridge will provide much better access on the other, says Freestyle's marketing director, John Stine.
"Certainly a better sense of arrival, as guests are coming off the bridge here, they're going to look to their right and they're going to get this great panoramic view of the park, Medieval Times, that whole area," says Stine.
But now the park and local officials have to let tourists know the bridge is there. While officials hope it will draw traffic off Highway 501, it's not on a major highway and at first, local drivers may be about the only ones using it. Mike Barbee is a DOT project manager.
"It'll provide a more direct connection to Highway 17, it'll allow folks to avoid any congestion on the bridge or at the interchange with 17, so as it opens, becomes more familiar to the drivers, it'll be used a lot more," said Barbee.
Barbee says eventually the bridge will play a big role in the area's transportation plan.
"We're projecting in the future year, probably around 2020, that there'll be anywhere around 25 to 35 thousand cars a day on it, so that's a significant bit," he added.
Fantasy Harbour Bridge is the next-to-last item on the area's RIDE program. Next up, the opening of the North Myrtle Beach Main Street Connector in August.
The Fantasy Harbor Bridge cost $46 million and took six years from planning stage to completion.
