Don't let the money leave Georgetown County.
SCDOT has $10 million allocated to improve US 17 in Georgetown County, between Crooked Oak Drive and Litchfield Drive. Four hundred people came to the public meeting in May. The project has been pushed from 2027 to 2028 while the department works through their comments.
State Rep. Lee Hewitt, who chairs the committee that approves the funding, has said publicly that he wants that $10 million to stay in Georgetown County rather than move elsewhere in the state.
We agree with him. We are asking for three things.
Litchfield residents raised real objections — turning movements, golf cart access, evacuation. Those are worth solving, and we are not asking anyone to accept a design that doesn't work for them. But a raised median is the single thing in that plan most likely to save a life. It should not die because the turn design needs another year.
If Litchfield needs more time, put the delay to use rather than losing the money to another part of the state. It was allocated to this corridor. It should be spent on this corridor.
The 2021 Highway 17 corridor study on Waccamaw Neck proposed more than two dozen projects. Georgetown County Council submitted one of them for funding. We are asking which of the rest cover the Murrells Inlet section — where ten people were killed walking between 2022 and 2024, nine of them after dark — and when those will be submitted.
Lighting takes no lanes, no land, and nobody's left turn.
My father, John H. Oakes Jr., was killed on this road on August 1, 2024. Nothing on this list would have been controversial the day before he died.
$10 million figure, the 2027–2028 delay, the 400-person meeting and Rep. Hewitt's remarks: Coastal Observer, 19 June 2026. Project limits: SCDOT public notice, 28 April 2026.Tell us what you've seen on this road.
Near-misses. Intersections you avoid. Places you won't let your kids walk. This is the evidence that makes an agency move — residents describing the same hazards in their own words, in writing, over and over.
Email the people who can actually fix it.
One short email from a constituent carries real weight, and almost nobody sends one. Say where you live, what you've seen, and what you want done.
Rep. Lee Hewitt · GSATS policy committee
He chairs the committee that approves federal transportation money for this region, and he has said publicly he wants the $10 million to stay in Georgetown County. He is the person for whom our ask is already his own position.
Contact →SCDOT US 17 Corridor Improvements project
The live project between Crooked Oak Drive and Litchfield Drive has its own comment portal and a named area project manager. Comments here go into the official record, not into a general inbox.
Portal →SCDOT District 5
US 17 is a state highway. Lighting, crossings and speed limits on it are SCDOT's decision, not the county's. District 5 covers Georgetown County.
843‑661‑4710SCDOT Georgetown County maintenance
The local office. Closest to the road itself, and the right number for a specific hazard at a specific spot.
843‑546‑2405Georgetown County Council — District 1
District 1 is Murrells Inlet. The county cannot rebuild a state highway, but it decides what gets built alongside it, and it can ask SCDOT formally — which carries far more weight than a resident can alone.
Directory →Your SC House member and state senator
SCDOT's budget and its priorities are set at the State House. A legislator asking SCDOT a question in writing gets an answer a resident does not.
Find yours →Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments
The regional planning body. Projects generally have to appear in its transportation plan before federal money can reach them, so this is where a corridor gets onto the list in the first place.
wrcog.org →East Coast Greenway Alliance — South Carolina
Not a decision-maker, an ally. They have a South Carolina manager, they partner with SCDOT, and this corridor is currently recorded as a finished trail. Asking them to describe it accurately costs nothing and changes what gets funded.
Contacts →Georgetown County Parks & Recreation · Bike the Neck
They look after the Waccamaw Neck Bikeway. If the path itself needs lighting, striping or a barrier, they are part of that conversation.
843‑545‑3550Offices and numbers verified against SCDOT's county directory in August 2026. People change with elections, so the individuals are linked to their own directories rather than named here. If you only make one call, make it the first one — the road is SCDOT's.
I live on [street] in Murrells Inlet. I'm writing about pedestrian safety on Highway 17. [What you've seen — a near-miss, a crossing you avoid, a place your family won't walk.]
Ten people were killed walking the US 17 corridor between Garden City and Pawleys Island from 2022 to 2024, and nine of them died in the dark. I'm asking you to support corridor lighting, marked and signalized crossings, and lower speeds through the residential stretch.
Specifically: the 2021 Highway 17 corridor study on Waccamaw Neck proposed more than two dozen projects, and Georgetown County submitted the Litchfield project for funding. Which of the others cover the Murrells Inlet section, and when will they be submitted? Please tell me what is planned and on what timeline.
Show up when it counts.
SCDOT public meetings and county council sessions are where these decisions actually get made, and they are usually close to empty. Twenty residents in a room changes the conversation completely. Join the list and we'll tell you when one is coming.
Send this to one neighbor.
Not a repost — one person, directly. The people on this road already know it's dangerous. What they don't know is that there's somewhere to put that.
We'll write when there's something worth doing.
Traffic studies, public meetings, and the moments when showing up matters. Nothing else, ever.
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