Let’s check in on projects on the north end

I was out on the north end recently and thought I’d check up on a few Department of Transportation projects that seem to have lingered around longer than they should have.

First, the venerable Whittlesey Road widening project, which has lasted longer than Elizabeth’s reign (it seems) is in its final stages. It appears that practically all the heavy lifting has been done, but a lane is still blocked off one each end of the stretch between Whitesville Road and Veterans Parkway.

I spoke to our DOT board member, Sam Wellborn, and he said he, too, was out looking at several projects at about the same time. (We should have car-pooled.) He agreed that the project looks to be nearing an end, but that a pretty good bit of cosmetic work remains to be done.

He also agreed that the project has taken altogether too long to complete.

“And I’m not happy about that,” Wellborn said.

An Atlanta sports columnist, it may have been Furman Bisher, once quipped that the only thing longer and more uncomfortable that the NBA season is pregnancy. Furman obviously never drove on Whittlesey Road.

Leaving Whittlesey, we turn left on Veterans Parkway. Wellborn also checked up on the massive widening project on the north end of that major highway and said he is assured that it’s on schedule. And he intends on seeing that it stays that way and doesn’t turn into another Whittlesey Road.

“We’re not going to let that one get behind,” Wellborn said.

Oh, and for the record, the old church bus and the little A-frame cottage are still sticking out of the woods on either side.

Turning left off Veterans onto Williams Road, I rode over to the refurbished, but still closed, Welcome Center just off Interstate 185. It has gotten a massive facelift, internally and externally and is scheduled to reopen on Oct. 7, Wellborn said.

Cognizant readers will recall that it was set to open a while back, but an air conditioning part had to be ordered and contractors were having trouble getting it, so they postponed the opening. Well, they got the AC part, but then building inspectors halted the reopening again, Wellborn said. You know how public restrooms have a drain in the middle of the floor? Well, the Welcome Center’s bathrooms didn’t have drains, and the inspectors wouldn’t approve the building without them.

Now, we’re assured, the AC works, the drains are in, and it’s surrounded by some nice new landscaping, and the center is set to open in about a month.

The renovation is part of a $20 million program to completely overhaul the state’s nine welcome centers, Wellborn said. The renovations are being paid for out of a DOT fund that comes from income from those signs you see along the interstates telling you which restaurants, gas stations and hotels are off each exit.

The businesses pay to be on those signs, which pays for stuff like renovating welcome centers.

This story was originally published October 2, 2016 at 9:04 PM with the headline "Let’s check in on projects on the north end."