Penny Tax at work

The $19 million amassed to date is the beginning of the $425.5 million the county is expected to reap over the next seven years from the new tax. All the money will go to road widenings, interchange expansions, resurfacing, and paving dirt roads.
The dollar figure, the first money the county has received so far, covers proceeds from May through July, Gilland said. The additional tax is collected by the state, which then writes a check to the county.
The sales tax is slated to fund the paving of 100 miles of dirt roads and the resurfacing of 67 miles of other roads. The first 12 miles of resurfaced roads was finished in August, said Steve Gosnell, the county's director of infrastructure and regulation. Work will begin on the next 12 in 2008.
The paving of the first 20 miles of dirt roads is under way. Fifty roads will be paved in this first phase, and three of them are already under construction, said Rob Hamzy of RPM Engineers, which is overseeing the project.
The S.C. Department of Transportation is also working with the county to widen main roads and expand major intersections. Most of those projects will not be complete until 2013, said Mike Barbee, a program manager with the DOT.
They include constructing an overpass at U.S. 501 near Aynor, building an interchange at S.C. 707 and U.S. 17 Bypass, widening Glenns Bay Road and widening the southern part of S.C. 707.
see more Horry County road projects