The planned widening of Ga. 347/Friendship Road from Interstate 985 to Ga. 211/Old Winder Highway has hit a slight delay.
Like the Cleveland Bypass earlier this year, the long-awaited project must overcome last-minute environmental concerns.
In awarding bids for several North Georgia projects, the Georgia Department of Transportation balked on the Ga. 347 project pending the Georgia Environmental Protection Division’s “concurrence on the final project plans,” said Teri Pope, spokeswoman for the DOT’s District 1, which includes Hall County.
“We hope to get concurrence and award the project in the next three to four weeks,” Pope said. “We are working with EPD almost daily on it.”
The DOT received bids on the project in June, with E.R. Snell Contractor submitting the low bid of $38.4 million.
Bids were as high as $46.8 million. When finished, Ga. 347 along the South Hall stretch will have four to six lanes, crossing Spout Springs Road in Braselton and running in front of the Northeast Georgia Health System’s planned 100-bed hospital, slated to open in the spring of 2015.
This spring, the DOT put off awarding a contract on the first phase of the Cleveland Bypass, a four-lane road that will run from U.S. 129 at Hope Drive to Ga. 115, a nearly two-mile stretch.
The DOT had to go through a second round of review with the EPD, which Pope described as “a normal course of action ... especially in an area as sensitive and complicated as the foothills in White County.”
Last week, the transportation agency awarded contracts on North Georgia projects totaling $6.6 million.
Georgia’s Intelligent Transportation System will be extended farther into Forsyth County on Ga. 400 from McFarland Road to Ga. 20. ITS includes cameras, overhead changeable message signs and connection to the Navigator System for real-time traffic information. The work is set for completion by July 31, 2013.
Ga. 400 will be resurfaced from Ga. 306 in Forsyth to Ga. 53 in Dawson County. That project is set for a Nov. 30 completion. And Ga. 255 in Habersham and White counties will be resurfaced from Ga. 115 to Ga. 17. The project has a completion date of May 31, 2013.
Veteran DOT worker named to engineer post for 4 counties
A 24-year DOT employee and Jackson County native has been named area engineer serving Clarke, Jackson, Oconee and Walton counties.
Dana Garrison, who starts his new post today, will be responsible for all construction and maintenance activities over state routes in the four-county area.
“His experience and his ‘get the work done and open the road’ attitude are critical to our focus on customer service,” said District Engineer Bayne Smith Jr.
Garrison, a Jefferson resident, began his career at the DOT as an engineering technician. For the past year,
Garrison served as assistant area engineer for maintenance serving the four counties.
Chambliss supports but won’t endorse TSPLOST
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., has come out in support of the proposed 1 percent transportation sales tax, which goes to voters statewide July 31.
“I have consistently stated that I support the T-SPLOST approach, which lets the people of Georgia decide if the proposal is in the best interest of their community and region based on the estimated cost and project list,” he said in a statement released Saturday.
The sales tax is commonly referred to as T-SPLOST, or transportation special purpose local option sales tax.
“I personally plan to vote in favor of the T-SPLOST in my hometown of Moultrie because I believe it will create jobs for southwest Georgia and make a very rural part of the state more attractive for economic development.”
Chambliss added: “I think Georgians should make up their own minds and vote their conscience on the T-SPLOST referendum on July 31, based on the facts for their region. That is why I have not and will not endorse T-SPLOST.”
Each of 12 regions in the state will decide whether to approve the sales tax. The regions are divided based on already established regional commissions, with Hall County falling in the 13-county Georgia Mountains region.
Jeff Gill covers transportation issues for The Times. Share your thoughts, news tips and questions with him:
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