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The board of the Joint Project Office endorsed an effort by Jasper County and Hardeeville officials to apply for more than $68 million in state money to create Exit 3, which would lead to Hardeeville.
Ted Felder, Hardeeville's economic development director, pitched the exit as a way to lift one of the state's poorest areas and pave the way for the port, which local officials have worked for decades to develop on the Jasper County side of the Savannah River.
To pay for the exit, the city and county are applying to the State Infrastructure Bank, a state agency that finances large projects that could lead to significant job creation.
Obtaining bank funds requires some local matching money. In this case, developers of a large tract of nearby industrial property would provide most of the remaining $53 million, which would cover the local requirement, Felder said.
The entire project, which includes the exit and other road improvements, such as widening and paving Purrysburg Road in west Hardeeville, would cost an estimated $121.6 million.
Tuesday's endorsement should bolster the argument for the interstate exit, Felder said. Hardeeville and Jasper County officials plan to seek similar endorsements from a host of governments and agencies throughout the Lowcountry.
"We want to establish the broad regional support for this project," Felder said.
The joint board, meeting for the first time in Jasper County, said the exit and other road projects would help build a transportation network that would be necessary to support the port, said the board's chairman, Bill Bethea of Bluffton.
Even without the port, the exit could bring substantial economic development. It could create hundreds of construction jobs within five years and open hundreds of acres of prime property for warehouse and distribution facilities that could generate thousands of jobs over the next 30 years, according to Felder's presentation.
