Horry County announced the planned closure Jan. 26, 2026. The project is intended to address drainage problems along the road. The announcement does not establish that the closure affects all Conway residents, and the available information does not show whether every affected address is within Conway city limits.

Work funded through five-project grant package

The Hemingway Chapel Road work is one of five Horry County drainage projects funded through a grant from the South Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority. The grant package totaled nearly $5.5 million.

That figure applies to the group of five projects, not specifically to Hemingway Chapel Road. The available record does not identify the individual project’s construction cost or provide a specific estimate for how much flooding or drainage improvement the work will deliver.

For people who travel the road, the county’s announcement establishes that a portion was scheduled to close for construction. It does not identify the precise closure limits, a detour route or a completion date. As a result, the available record does not support identifying which nearby addresses will face the greatest access changes or how long the disruption will last.

Current status remains unclear

Horry County’s road-construction and closures index, published July 24, lists infrastructure and closure notices and identifies the county as the responsible public agency for those notices. The available search result did not provide a newer Conway-specific status update for Hemingway Chapel Road.

As of the available record dated Aug. 7, 2026, it was not clear whether construction had started, whether the scheduled closure remained in effect or whether the project had been completed. The record does not support describing the work as finished.

Next public-record checkpoint

Horry County Council has a meeting scheduled for Aug. 18, 2026. That meeting is a possible next public-record checkpoint for information about the project, although the approved information does not say that Hemingway Chapel Road is specifically on the agenda.

Until the county provides more detail, drivers and residents planning trips through the Conway area have no documented closure limits, recommended alternate route or confirmed end date in the available record. The project’s stated purpose is drainage improvement, but its construction schedule and present effect on road access remain unresolved.

The project installed four new pipes beneath Hemingway Chapel Road to address recurring drainage and access problems. The county described the work as a stormwater and flood-mitigation project, not a routine resurfacing effort.

Road scheduled to reopen Feb. 13

In a Feb. 13 notice, Horry County said the road was scheduled to reopen that Friday after the stormwater work. The notice identified the four pipes installed beneath the road and placed the project among several county drainage improvements supported by a South Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority grant.

On Feb. 18, the county issued a second notice reporting that the flood-mitigation upgrades on Hemingway Chapel Road were complete. Together, the notices document the transition from a scheduled reopening to a reported completion of the project.

The upgrades are intended to improve drainage, strengthen the road’s resilience during flooding and restore access along the Hemingway Chapel Road route. The county’s description connects the work to the practical problems faced by people traveling through the Hemingway area, including residents, farmers and other local traffic.

County notices cite different grant figures

The two county notices do not use the same grant total or project count. The Feb. 13 notice described the Hemingway Chapel Road work as one of five Horry County drainage projects funded by a grant of nearly $5.5 million.

The Feb. 18 completion notice instead referred to a $4.9 million grant awarded to Horry County for six projects. The available notices do not explain the difference, so the figures should not be treated as interchangeable or reconciled without the underlying grant award.

The South Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority describes its grant program as supporting reliable infrastructure and economic capacity statewide. Its grants page provides the state agency’s official pathway for checking the award details.

Location and next steps

The official notices name Hemingway Chapel Road and identify the work as part of an infrastructure package affecting the Hemingway community. The available sources do not establish whether the specific road segment is inside the municipal limits of Hemingway or in the broader Hemingway area.

The county’s Feb. 18 notice is the latest known project update in the approved records. Those records do not identify another construction deadline or a scheduled follow-up date. They also do not claim that the work will eliminate all future flooding.

The draft is part of the county’s IMAGINE 2040 five-year review. County planning materials say the proposal would create a new Industrial Corridors Future Land Use designation if it is finalized. The county’s stated goal is to identify specific areas better suited for future industrial, manufacturing and distribution uses along major transportation corridors.

That matters because the county is still deciding where it wants to encourage heavier development and where it wants to avoid it. Horry County says its land-use work is meant to steer industrial growth away from places where it could conflict with homes, conservation lands, wetlands and historic downtowns. The county also says the planning model considered distance from major roads, railroads, wetlands, flood zones and residential structures.

Public feedback gathered earlier in the process has focused on the same tradeoffs. The county says residents raised concerns about protecting wetlands, buffering sensitive residential and environmental land uses, air and water quality, and whether road and utility infrastructure can handle the kind of growth industrial corridors could bring. County planners also said they used public input, survey responses and guidance from County Council and the Planning Commission to shape the draft now under review.

The county’s own guidance also makes one point clear: the future land-use map is a policy plan, not zoning. In other words, the draft does not by itself change every parcel’s current allowed use. It is meant to guide where industrial uses may be encouraged in the future and where they should be discouraged.

For Conway-area residents, business owners and commuters, the practical issue is what happens if the draft advances. Industrial corridor decisions can affect freight movement, road demands, utility planning and the long-term look of surrounding neighborhoods. The county says the point of the overlay is to concentrate industrial uses in places that make sense for access and infrastructure, while buffering more sensitive areas.

The public comment period runs through July 2. County materials also list later review dates, including an Infrastructure & Regulations Committee meeting on August 11 and a County Council meeting on August 18, though the timeline is subject to change. For now, the June 4 hearing is the key chance for Conway residents to speak before the draft moves deeper into the county review process.

Sources

• Horry County industrial corridor draft release