South Carolina Ping 
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Posted on 04/12/2019 8:16:08 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A proposed interstate into Myrtle Beach might be further delayed after a judge rejected most efforts to dismiss a lawsuit that raises concerns with the roads’ environmental impacts.
It’s another chapter in the longstanding effort to bring Interstate 73 to the Grand Strand.
The proposed Interstate 73 would run from Michigan to Myrtle Beach with about 75 miles of highway in South Carolina. Officials have long discussed the need for the route to help ease congestion and to serve as an alternative hurricane evacuation route.
Late in 2017, the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency, the federal Department of Transportation and several officials over the proposed highway.
The conservation league said the I-73 project would cost $3.8 billion and destroy hundreds of acres of freshwater wetlands, according to court records.
The suit argued federal officials violated their responsibilities in several aspects of the project, including approving permits under the Clean Water Act.
South Carolina’s Coastal Conservation League also questioned the federal agencies’ reliance on a 10-year-old environmental study and “reevaluations” instead of undertaking a supplemental study.
There are cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternatives to the proposed highway, the conservation group stated.
(Excerpt) Read more at myrtlebeachonline.com ...
PING.
Ping
If God Forbid there’s a Cat 5 hurricane and people die because they couldn’t evacuate, these people need to be held culpable.
Interesting how “the judge” does not have a name mentioned anywhere in the article.
This is a local Myrtle Beach news outlet. One of those that tries to get you to commit to paying it money per month to avail yourself of the bottom of the journalism septic tank where the purveyors of letters and numbers were never able to memorize all four of the W’s and the H at the same time.
Note to the car nuts: the answer to terminal congestion is NOT to build a new interstate highway to bring even move cars into an area that cannot handle what it already has.
The only way a new interstate would help beach traffic in Myrtle Beach would be for the interstate to run right along the coast, razing all the expensive housing developments and retail along the corridor. If the highway effectively sealed off the beach from access and made the coast unlivable, fewer people would go and traffic congestion would be much eased. Myrtle Beach could be like -- oh, the Philadelphia riverfront along the I-95 corridor. This should make car nuts happy. It doesn't seem like an attractive solution to me.
Land with ocean frontage is a limited, fixed asset. Myrtle Beach is already overdeveloped. It won't be improved by more cars. When it comes to transit options, too many people are still living in 1964, when we still had a border with Mexico and the U.S. population was "only" 180 million. Even then, we were building too many roads where we shouldn't have, and LBJ's great project to destroy America's cities by driving big highways through residential areas was just getting underway. People really need to look at the wreckage and take a clue.
Well, if they gave the judge’s name, enterprising people — such as FReepers — would do a little research to see which knucklehead President appointed him. My guess: W or Obama.
“There are cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternatives to the proposed highway, the conservation group stated.”
And what alternatives are they proposing? Since they are saying that, they need to show those alternatives. Typical ploy by the leftists. There are better ways to do things, but they haven’t yet figured it out. Ask a lefty what the solution is to global warming and the best response you will get is, “You’re a racist.”
I did my own “investigative journalism” (i.e., I googled the case; whew, that was hard to do, article writer) and, sure enough, it’s an Obama appointee: Bruce Hendricks (female, btw).
“Car nuts”?
Not sure how you think that’s going to help your argument but I suppose that’s up to you.
In any case, cars are how most people get to and from Myrtle Beach and people are already there who need to have better options than to use a bunch of surface streets.
Rail would be utter idiocy because while it would go to Myrtle Beach you have to wonder where it would come from? Maybe people should be forced to use bicycles?
What’s your solution to the congestion problem you observed?
No one goes to myrtle Beach any more...going down down down...infested with crime!
I’ve gone every year for the last 35 years with no issues. Do make sure of “situational awareness”, and SC does CCW reciprocity with my state. Also aware of “events” that I feel uncomfortable with (Like the various Biker weeks or spring break). Otherwise we love going there for vacations....
Bike paths?
That said, my usual starting point is that we need to be thinking less about pouring asphalt and more about intermodal options. Bicycles? In Myrtle Beach? Heck yes; it's a beach community and bikes are a great way for most people to get around, especially if they had protected bike lanes so they didn't have to dodge cars. I'm sure Myrtle Beach already has bike rentals. Do they have one of the newer rideshare sytems? Do they have the app-driven electric scooter systems? You could do the same thing with golf carts. They point is to have sufficient density so that people feel like a ride is always readily available. That requires enough units up front, and a well-managed staff to ensure that units are repositioned in areas of high usage. There's an art to it, but I'd think a place like Myrtle Beach would be a natural.
What are the other options? Busses or light rail, I suppose. The trick is to make these attractive and fun to use. The iconic example in this area would be the San Francisco cable car system. These are actually fun to ride. They're semi-open so you feel like you're still outside. They move slowly enough that you can soak in the ambience of the area as you move along. They are single car units, so it's not like getting on a standard multi-car light rail train where you are sitting in an enclosed tube. My only complaint about the cable cars is that they don't run frequently enough. A good people mover should come along every few minutes.
The attractiveness of all of these options would be much enhanced if the automobile traffic was substantially reduced. Take lanes away from cars. Close chosen streets to cars. Rethink the whole area's transportation plan around the assumption that non-residents are not going to bring their cars to the beach area. Park some distance away in a well-lighted, well-marked, secure lot and take the beach zone tram or trolley into the high congestion areas. Hotels would probably run their own shuttles as well.
A local example that comes to mind is Harpers Ferry. You park at the visitors' center and take the bus down to the historic area. You can bring a car into the historic area if you want -- the Amtrak/MARC station is there and has a small parking lot -- but there is virtually no other parking for visitors. That was a cultural change when the parking was eliminated, but the area used to be choked with cars, and it's now virtually car free. You just have to train your visitors properly. Is it a hassle to take a bus down from the visitors center? The truth is, it's much less of a hassle than it used to be to try to find parking.
Every community is different and I'd defer to people who frequent Myrtle Beach to make the call. But I've seen enough beach towns to know that shuttle busses, provided they run frequently enough, are as convenient as driving, and maybe more (especially when it takes an hour to find a parking place, and you end up far from your destination). Give the bikes, scooters, pedestrians and shuttles a dedicated lane, and these options will get you to the beach quickly while the saps in cars are spending an hour hunting for a parking spot. And the shuttle will be cheaper than what you'll pay for parking.
I'm not dogmatic about this. Each community can choose its own options. But there ARE solutions to terminal congestion, and these generally require getting people out of their cars. Yes, the last time we went to New York, we drove into Manhattan -- where the hotel parking attendant disposed of the car, which we didn't see again until we left. This works, but only if abundant alternatives are readily available.
Being from NC, we always went to North Myrtle. MB was off-limits as it was full of Yankees and Canucks.
Bruce Hendricks the FEMALE??? Is this one of those female-to-male transgenders, or is it more along the lines of “My Girl Bill?”
South Carolina Ping
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I just don't see the appeal to MB now, in its present state. But, I am not a golfer, nor do I live in a land locked state or Canada.
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