Horry County road concerns drivers in growing subdivision

By Thema Ponton
WBTW News 13 Reporter
Published: July 23, 2008

Horry County Fire Rescue public information officer, Todd Cartner said not counting major highways; Carolina Forest Boulevard is among one of the most dangerous roads in the county.

Cartner called a curve near the Avalon community, a deadly curve, especially if you drive too fast.

That curve is about a mile from a serious crash that happened early Wednesday morning on Carolina Forest Boulevard.

Hayley Schleifer said she sometimes gets nervous driving in and out of the Avalon subdivision because she said people go way too fast around some of the curves.

Schleifer said, “It’s just really narrow and windy, especially down this way, maybe some lights or stop signs or just make it wider.”

Drivers said if there were more lanes, there would be more room on the road when people are trying to turn into subdivisions like Avalon.

Samantha Frew said, “Because people just stop all the sudden and try to go into communities and they don’t use turn signals, they just stop all the sudden and turn and I think that’s dangerous.”

Dangerous enough that Cartner said Carolina Forest Boulevard is a busy stretch of road for them when it comes to crashes, some of them deadly.

Tina McCall said, “I’d like to see more cops you know in patrol cars on this road because I don’t think it’s being patrolled enough.”

Sgt. Robert Kegler with the Horry county police department said a radar trailer on Carolina Forest Boulevard not far from Avalon is a warning for drivers to slow down

Cartner said drivers need to slow down and be more cautious when driving on what is quickly becoming one of the more heavily traveled roads in the county.

Kegler said the radar trailer is not a replacement for a law enforcement officer, as they’re placed in different areas from time to time, but said police do have a presence on Carolina Forest Boulevard and they can be anywhere at any time.

Horry County Public Information officer Lisa Bourcier said there are future plans to widen Carolina Forest Boulevard to four lanes.