Myrtle Beach — Streetcar A Tough Sell

Rail Transit Online, May 2007

City officials appear to be increasingly skeptical of a proposal to build a streetcar network in the Myrtle Beach area.  The grand plan calls for 11 mi. (17.7 km) of track costing up to $330 million and serving downtown, several beach areas, the convention center, the hotel district and possibly the airport.  City Planning Director Jack Walker has suggested starting with a 0.4-mi. (0.64 km) pilot segment costing between $6.6 million and $10.4 million from the recently refurbished railroad station along Ninth Avenue North to the ocean.  But engineering consultant URS Corp. has recommended against building the test section unless two major redevelopment schemes move forward.  “The timing of this will be dependent on what happens with those projects,” URS Senior Transportation Engineer Brett Wallace told The Sun News.  “At this point, there's not a whole lot of hard and fast details regarding those plans.”  Several city council members reacted strongly when they heard about the price tag for the pilot project and that federal and state funding would probably not be available.  “I can't imagine the benefit that would come from it when you can do a (bus) shuttle service back and forth,” City Councilman Randal Wallace told The Sun News.  “I've been interested in it, but I can't imagine spending that kind of money for that little return.”  Added Assistant City Manager John Pedersen, “I think it's an awfully big risk.”