State can use tolls to build I-73

MYRTLE BEACH — The state has received permission to collect tolls to help pay for building Interstate 73 through northeast South Carolina, Transportation Secretary Buck Limehouse said.

The Federal Highway Administration also gave state transportation officials other options to raise money for the new highway, like allowing the marketing of products on the interstate, said Michael Covington, the state Transportation Department's director of administration.

State lawmakers already have given permission to charge tolls on I-73, which will require about 80 miles of new highway.

Covington said transportation officials have not decided whether they will put tollbooths on the interstate.

The highway will be the first direct interstate link to the Grand Strand. The interstate also will go through some of the poorest areas of South Carolina, and leaders hope that businesses and other investment will follow the highway's construction.

The southern portion of Interstate 73, which would connect the area's beaches with Interstate 95, will likely be built first, Limehouse said.

The state also is joining Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia in asking the Federal Highway Administration to charge people who drive I-95 in order to maintain and improve the road, Covington said.