• Blog Home
• FAQ: Why are there two Highway 17s?

FAQ: Why are there two Highway 17s?

One of the questions that we frequently get asked is “Why are there two Route 17's in Myrtle Beach?”

U.S. 17, which is also known as the Coastal Highway, originates in downtown Punta Gorda just North of Fort Myers in Florida. It passes through Jacksonville and Savannah in Georgia, Charleston, Georgetown, Murrells Inlet and Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, Wilmington and New Bern in North Carolina and finally crosses the Rappahannock River between Stafford County and Spotsylvania County at Fredericksburg, Virginia, before ending at Winchester.

That original road through Myrtle Beach became extremely busy so in 1935 a new highway was constructed further to the west to relieve the congestion. Those two roads are now commonly referred to as U.S. 17 Business or Kings Highway and U.S. 17 Bypass.

Travelling from north to south, there is one U.S. 17 from North Carolina through North Myrtle Beach and Atlantic Beach.

The road splits just as you enter into Myrtle Beach with Route 17 Business taking you closer to the ocean and going through much of downtown Myrtle Beach and US 17 Bypass taking you further to the west avoiding most of the major city and downtown areas.

Route 17 Business goes through the area as the Kings Highway, and passes through the business areas of Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, Garden City and Murrells Inlet.

The two highways join again south of Murrells Inlet and continue together through Georgetown and into Charleston.

We know that having these two similarly named roads can be confusing for visitors looking to get from place to place but hopefully armed with this information you can help steer yourself in the right direction.

*Image from GoogleMaps. Google and the Google logo are registered trademarks of Google Inc., used with permission.

Related Entries