MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Getting onto the sand in Myrtle Beach should soon be easier for people who use wheelchairs. The city has cleared state review to lay an accessible beach mat at the 15th Avenue South beach access.
South Carolina’s Department of Environmental Services signed off on the mat. Myrtle Beach is also adding beach wheelchair rental lockers at four public accesses. Concrete pads for the lockers are already in the ground, and the units should arrive by mid-December. RentFun, which already rents kayaks at Thunderbolt Park, is set to run the lockers, and city officials left the door open to more sites later.
The step ends a long gap. Myrtle Beach shelved its beach wheelchair service when beaches closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and never brought it back, even as neighboring beach towns restarted theirs.
Beach wheelchairs ride on wide, low-pressure tires that roll over sand, where standard chairs tend to bog down. The city first tried to drop the service in 2016, citing worn-out chairs and repair costs, then reversed course within days after residents objected.
