February 7, 2006 2:00 PM, EST

South Carolina Governor Signs Bill Allowing Tolls on I-73

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

outh Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) signed a bill Monday to allow tolls will be collected to pay for construction on Interstate 73 in the state, the Florence (S.C.) Morning News reported.

Tolls on the interstate will contribute a large portion of its funding, the paper said. Projected to cost about $2 billion, the 90-mile stretch has been approved by the state’s transportation department and the U.S. Congress.

Sanford said when signing the bill that the road would help foster tourism in South Carolina, the Morning News reported.

The interstate also is being touted as an important hurricane evacuation route from the Myrtle Beach, S.C., area, the paper said.

Sanford was a member of the U.S. Congress when I-73 was authorized in 1991, the Morning News reported.

he road will run from just outside Rockingham, N.C., through Marlboro, Dillon and Marion counties in South Carolina before reaching the Grand Strand area. Local officials said I-73 will spur economic development, in addition to giving tourists better access to the beaches, the paper reported.