Road Improvement Development Effort

Road Improvement and Development Effort or RIDE is a plan for road projects in Horry County, South Carolina, including Carolina Bays Parkway, Veterans Highway and Robert Grissom Parkway. The first phase, costing $1.1 billion, is being paid for by hospitality taxes. The second phase, called RIDE II, was being paid for through a one-cent sales tax approved by Horry County voters November 7, 2006. RIDE III was being planned as of 2013 and voters approved a penny tax in 2016.

In 1996, South Carolina voters turned down a one-cent sales tax for roads, and Buck Limehouse, the state's first DOT Commission chairman, started the State Infrastructure Bank. Commission member Gary Loftus became the first chairman of RIDE, which came up with the list of Horry County projects to use money from the bank. In the years 1995 through 2002, the state completed 27 years worth of road projects at a cost of $5 billion, including the RIDE projects. The Fantasy Harbour Bridge, opened in July 2009, was the last RIDE project.

A 2.5 percent accommodations tax, and a 1.5 percent prepared foods tax, funds projects in the first phase of RIDE. Three-fifths of the tax goes to RIDE projects, with the remainder for public safety, public works and infrastructure relating to tourism. On May 2, 2017, the Horry County Council voted to continue collecting the 1.5 percent hospitality fee first passed in 1996 and scheduled to end in 2019. Supporters of keeping the fee wanted to use revenues for Interstate 73.

The Horry County Council created the RIDE II Committee on April 17, 2001. It included 11 voting members plus the chairman of the S.C. DOT. The committee's purpose is to advise the county and state of road needs, study funding methods, and review projects under construction.

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