CONWAY, S.C. — AUGUST 22, 2026 — THOMAS BEACH VACATIONS NEWS DESK

The Pine Ridge development agreement clears its final hurdle — extending the Carolina Bays Parkway south to the Highway 17 Bypass, minus the overpass that drew more than 80 resident complaints.

Horry County Council approved the Pine Ridge development agreement Tuesday, advancing one of the most consequential road projects on the Grand Strand’s horizon: the southern extension of Highway 31, also known as the Carolina Bays Parkway, from its current endpoint at Highway 707 in the Socastee area down to the Highway 17 Bypass near Surfside Beach.

The approved plan carries a major change shaped directly by the public. Council amended the project map to cancel a previously proposed overpass across the Highway 17 Bypass, ending the extension at the bypass itself rather than carrying the road over it. The amendment followed more than 80 complaints from concerned residents — including neighbors from the Surfside Beach Club community, who packed the council meeting to press officials on traffic, noise, flooding, and whether local infrastructure and emergency services could absorb additional growth. By stopping at the bypass, the current plan avoids taking any homes or property on its east side.

Council Member Dennis DiSabato explained that the amended map fixes the road’s terminus at Highway 17 and no farther, and framed the change as part of a broader effort to balance the county’s infrastructure needs against the concerns of the people who live along the corridor. He said the county’s aim is never to harm residents but to improve projects both for the drivers who will use them and for the surrounding communities they affect, adding that the council is doing everything it can to keep pace with the area’s growth.

What the Extension Means for Grand Strand Drivers

Highway 31 is the spine of Grand Strand traffic — the fast, limited-access parkway that lets drivers bypass Highway 17’s stoplights on trips between North Myrtle Beach and the southern end of the county. Today the parkway ends at Highway 707, funneling south-end traffic back onto congested surface roads. Once extended, it would give drivers a direct route between the Surfside Beach area and North Myrtle Beach without touching Highway 17 — a change county officials say will reshape how thousands of commuters and visitors move across the county.

The road will run through the Pine Ridge tract, a large parcel in southern Horry County owned by Myrtle Beach Farms that has sat vacant since winning residential approval in 1999. Under the agreement, infrastructure comes first: the county negotiated the deal to prioritize the roadway ahead of home construction, with DiSabato indicating the agreed portion of the road could be built within the next seven years.

A Smoother Ride to the Beach Ahead

For visitors, the long game is simple: the Carolina Bays Parkway already makes reaching North Myrtle Beach one of the easiest drives on the coast, whisking arriving travelers from Highway 22 or the airport corridor straight toward the Cherry Grove Beach, Ocean Drive, Crescent Beach, and Windy Hill exits. Extending the parkway’s southern reach spreads that same convenience across the whole Strand — day trips to Murrells Inlet seafood houses, Pawleys Island golf, and Brookgreen Gardens get faster in both directions, without adding a single stoplight.

Guests planning ahead can already count on the easy Highway 31 access that makes oceanfront home rentals and oceanfront condo rentals in North Myrtle Beach such a practical home base for exploring the entire Grand Strand — and that base only gets more connected from here.

Source: Council action and project details reported by WMBF News, WPDE, WFXB, The Post and Courier, and My Horry News, July–August 2026. Project scope, funding, and timelines are subject to change as the development agreement is implemented.