GDOT is planning a road widening, roundabout project. Here’s how residents can get involved
Residents will have a chance to weigh in this month on a proposal to widen U.S. 27 and Ga. 1 to a four-lane highway beginning in northern Muscogee County and reaching into Harris County.
The Georgia Department of Transportation is holding an open house from 4:30-7 p.m. July 8 in Midland to gain feedback and provide information on the location and design of the project, according to a press release from the agency.
Currently, the approximately 8 mile section of roadway where the project is proposed is made up of two lanes and three lanes. According to the release, GDOT proposes to widen the section, which begins just north of the north Columbus schools and Lullwater Apartments and ends at the intersection with Ga. 315 in Cataula, into a four-lane roadway with a four-foot median.
The intersection of U.S. 27 and Ga. 315 is also proposed to be a new roundabout location.
“The open house will provide the public with an opportunity to view the proposed project, ask questions and give comments,” the release states. “The event will be informal and citizens are invited to attend any time during the hours.”
The project will be funded partially by a transportation special purpose local option sales tax, or TSPLOST, which came out of the Transportation Investment Act of 2010. The act created 12 regions in Georgia, each responsible for developing a list of needed local projects.
Columbus is in the River Valley Region, consisting of Muscogee, Harris, Talbot, Taylor, Macon, Marion, Chattahoochee, Dooly, Stewart, Webster, Sumter, Crisp, Randolph, Schley, Quitman and Clay counties.
According to a Transportation Investment Act (TIA) fact sheet, in 2012 voters approved a 10-year 1% sales tax to fund local transportation improvements. Round tables held by local elected officials selected projects for the River Valley Region.
“In River Valley, they had 23 total projects and this is one of them that was identified,” said Karen Judd, TIA communications specialist, about the U.S. 27 road widening project.
Judd said the project is budgeted to cost $40 million, with $15 million coming from the TSPLOST and $25 million coming from House Bill 170/Transportation Funding Act funds.
According to a document provided by Judd, the project is intended to alleviate the congestion on U.S. 27 and decrease the frequency and severity of crashes.
GDOT traffic counts from 2018 range from 9,350 on the south end and 7,600 toward the north end of the project, Judd said.
“We’ll have the full project layout, design details and roundabout simulation available at the open house Monday,” Judd said.
As of July 2019, 17 of the 23 regional TSPLOST-funded projects have been completed and $131,495,832 has been expended, out of $410,754,730 budgeted, according to a fact sheet.
Collection of the tax is anticipated to continue through 2022.
The open house will be held at the Pierce Chapel United Methodist Church, 5122 Pierce Chapel Road, in Midland.
Citizens can make verbal comments at the open house as well as submit written statements.
Written statements will be accepted until July 22 and can be addressed to Mr. Kenneth Franks, State TIA Administrator, Georgia DOT, 600 West Peachtree Street NW, 11th Floor, Atlanta, Georgia 30308 or emailed to TIAComments@dot.ga.gov.
This story was originally published July 3, 2019 at 5:39 PM.