Checkpoint backs up traffic, frustrates Myrtle Beach drivers....you dicide if you want to deal with whats ahead

[Hot Bikers: ceo/creator]

By Aisha Khan
WBTW Reporter
Published: May 15, 2009

If you were one of the hundreds of drivers stuck in a major traffic jam at the busiest intersection of US 501 Friday morning, you weren’t alone.

“It’s insane,” said Joe Chocuzza, who is visiting Myrtle Beach from Canada. “I left a busy city on purpose to come to vacation and i’m back in a stressful mode.”

A traffic checkpoint on 501 near the US 17 Bypass interchange had the beach-bound traffic lanes backed up for much of the late morning.

Traffic cameras indicated the backup extended beyond the George Bishop Parkway interchange at one point.

The checkpoint was taken down shortly after noon. A similar event is scheduled from 1-3 p.m. Saturday, Myrtle Beach Police Department officials said.

Bikers Lee Ashmore and Mark Stewart, both from Connecticut, say they come to Myrtle Beach once a year to take part in the annual spring Harley rally.

But this year they say they are turned off by the way the city is treating them, adding that a trip next year to the beach doesn’t look so good.

“They wanted to stop bike week and now all of a sudden this happens,” Ashmore said. “So who’s it being let out too?“

“I’ve been to Sturgis, been to Daytona, been to Lincolnia, but this is the only place we’ve seen this,“ Stewart said.

And it’s not just the out-of-towners that were furious. Local business owner Bob Sutton says he drove past the traffic gridlock and couldn’t believe what he saw, something he says makes his city look bad in the eyes of others.

“Having a check point on Highway 501 on a Friday during peek driving hours - that’s bad for business, bad for the city of Myrtle Beach,” Sutton said. “It’s bad for tourism. It’s actually a black eye for the city. I don’t know who could’ve looked at that or thought about this and said, ‘Gee, this is a good idea.’“

The city of Myrtle Beach recently passed ordinances put in place to deter bikers from passing through during their traditional spring rallies. The most notable ordinance requires bikers to wear helmets in the city limits. South Carolina law does not require helmets.

Myrtle Beach spokesman Mark Kruea said it was not a coincident this checkpoint was set up when and where it was.

“Meaning that for the last fifteen years the rallies have resulted in you know tremendous increase in traffic, tremendous increase in noise,” Kruea said. “We’ve had as many fatalities during the three weeks of the rallies as we did during the other forty nine weeks of the year. That was in a good rally period. The rallies the communities said they just did not want have them anymore.“


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Reader Reactions

Posted by ( ex-MBtourist ) on May 16, 2009 at 8:23 pm

Lisa, I think that was an unfair statement. I’m an African American motorcycle rider, and I attended both bike weeks. Trust me, there’s no difference between the two. There’s always going to be bad apples in any bunch. I hope that if you’re ever treated unfairly, you’d stand up for yourself and others.

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Posted by ( ncvisitor ) on May 16, 2009 at 7:21 pm

If Myrtle Beach continues its insane attack on visitors as well as its own citizens, it will soon become a ghost town. Let’s hope the north and south ends have more common sense the the “middle”. Are the checkpoints going to become a weekly inconvience or are they just to show the Harley riders they mean business?
P.S. If I-73 ever gets finished, they can name it “The Road to Nowhere!“

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Posted by ( RainbowMBSC ) on May 16, 2009 at 3:35 pm

Mayor Rhodes and City Council members of Myrtle Beach,
How about taking that $500,000.00 you offered Atlantic Beach to cancel their Memorial Day Bike Rally and offering it to us business owners that lost incredible amounts of revenues this week and for weeks to come? You think we are angry now, wait until the trickle down effect doesn’t happen. What will you do then? Raise our taxes again?

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Posted by ( lisa ) on May 16, 2009 at 2:39 pm

Here is the real reason that that checkpoints were conducted yesterday.

If the City of Myrtle Beach did not conduct them during the “Harley Bike Rally” .. they would have a tough time explaining why the conducted them during the “Atlantic Beach Biker Rally” next week.

This way the NAACP cannot cry racism!

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Posted by ( lklinden ) on May 16, 2009 at 2:29 pm

I hope the Mayor and the City Council are reading this blog along with all of the other blogs. You have done a good job of ruining a wonderful vacation spot in one fell swoop, all because a few people complained. There will be businesses that close and TONS of lost revenue due to your short-sighted thinking. You chase revenue out of town, make people in other states think MB is an unfriendly place to visit, tack on additional taxes and say tourists can make up the difference. Do you have your heads in the sand, or don’t you know there are A LOT of other towns along the ocean that don’t charge an arm and a leg and actually welcome tourists? Now Mayor is actually trying to blame the Bikers for the lost revenue….unreal!

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Posted by ( ex-MBtourist ) on May 16, 2009 at 10:47 am

This is coming from an ex tourist of MB. I absolutely loved the interactions i’ve had with MB residents, but I must admitt the Law Enforcement and City Officials are stuck in the 50’s! This so called ban of bikers is making the city look so bad outside SC. I’ve spoke with several people in several cities, and they WILL NEVER COME BACK.. The hatred has to be ver very deep to risk losing so much revenue over a 3 week period. This whole thing really turns my stomach. Not only did I come to enjoy my biker family, but I came back throughout the year with my family. I regret to say i’ll be looking into other local beaches to spend my “HARD EARNED MONEY”!

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Posted by ( beachgirl52 ) on May 16, 2009 at 9:46 am

I just saw Mayor Rhodes on TV this morning and he is actually blaming the bikers for not coming to Myrtle Beach. He stated that the bikers chose not to come and frequent MB businesses, so it is the bikers fault!!!!! I couldnt believe what I was hearing. Im not even a biker and I dont want to go there. They have destroyed their own city, but now that the impact has hit them there going to blame it on everyone else! Way to go Mayor!!!!

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Posted by ( bingobob ) on May 16, 2009 at 9:31 am

personally I’m not directly affected by what the myrtle beach politicans do,I live in SURFSIDE BEACH but as a longtime resident and someone who has been coming to the area since I was a child,the bike week was mainly held in cherry grove and ocean drive section many years ago,as my father made the pilgrimage every year until he no longer rode a bike,as the area and the rally changed so did the attendance,how the city concil and mayor can just ignore the economical impact on the city is astounding,and then to raise taxes to try and make up the difference is simply,not looking out for the residence of the community if anything we should be paying the lowest taxes in the state.Then they decide to punish the locals with a rediculous checkpoint on 501 for what? What other tourist can they attract during the time frame involved to make up the difference the bike weeks influx to the economy? Isn’t that what its all about MONEY!!!! Well I hope the council and mayor enjoyed their tenor as officers of the city,cause I imagine they will not be re-elected,don’t see how they can.

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Posted by ( jrae ) on May 16, 2009 at 7:51 am

As a 5 year resident of Myrtle Beach, I am ASHAMED of our city officials that ALLOW and have passed these ridiculous ordinances/laws. In today’s economy why are we biting the hand(s) that actually feed us? When taxes continue to rise because they have to make up for the lost revenue of ONLY 3 WEEKS, residents need to STAND up for our town. These rallies SUPPORT the businesses and residents here….have we forgotten that, or is money no longer of importance to MB any longer, and if that is the case, why is the unemployment rate in MB SO HIGH? Hmmmmm, makes you wonder how these officials actually got elected??

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Posted by ( tbone ) on May 15, 2009 at 11:30 pm

I CANNOT BELIEVE IT IS ‘LEGAL’ FOR MYRTLE BEACH TO SET UP A CHECK POINT DURING BUSINESS HOURS FOR THE REASONS THEY DID IT. THEY INTERRUPTED MANY BUSINESSES IN THE AREA WITH EMPLOYEES BEING LATE, DELIVERIES BEING LATE, PLANES BEING MISSED. NOT VERY SMART FOR THE ECONOMY. MAYBE MYRTLE BEACH LEADERS NEED TO BE BUSINESS OWNERS RATHER THAT THE CLOWNS THAT ARE RUNNING IT.

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