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Georgia’s primary north-south highway corridor in the eastern state is US Highway 1, which will mark 100 years as a numbered highway in 2022.
And, in many places along its 2,300 miles. road from South Florida to the Canadian border, US 1 shows its age.
Although it has already been modernized in Georgia, the highway has reached operational capacity and improvements are needed to maintain an ideal service for freight transport and daily travelers, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).
In Jefferson County, east-central Georgia, for example, the GDOT recently took action to improve safety on a current section of US 1 two-lane highway that sees more than 8,000 drivers. daily, of which 20% drive trucks.
In early September, the state agency awarded a $ 46.8 million contract to ER Snell Entrepreneur, based in Snellville, to carry out a US 1 expansion project in the county
The work represents the fourth and final step towards a four-lane US highway connecting the town of Wadley to the north to the community of Wrens. Each construction effort will be active in 2021 and will encompass a 21-mile-long corridor when completed.
Together, they will total an estimated total investment of $ 150 million for the state.
ER Snell will make improvements to the highway for 5.91 miles, stretching from the Wadley Bypass to the Louisville Bypass. In addition, the contractor will build new bridges over the Ogeechee River and its overflow south of Louisville.
According to the GDOT, the proposed work provides for four, 12 ft. lanes with depressed grass medians of varying width until the typical section just north of the Ogeechee overflow bridge turns into a flush median that continues south of US 1 / GA 4 Business. The northern terminus of the project is only 0.3 mi. north of Nimrod Road.
The Department of Transportation noted that the existing bridges over the Ogeechee River and the Ogeechee River overflow would also be widened and parallel bridges built to accommodate the new tracks.
Concurrently, ER Snell is completing another of four US 1 improvement projects at the north end of the Jefferson County Corridor near Wrens.
There, the construction company will widen and rebuild US 1 / GA 4 from Mennonite Church Road to GA 88 for 6.5 mi. In addition, the crews will replace the highway bridge over the Big Creek Bridge and build a new parallel structure on the waterway.
Both ER Snell projects are expected to be completed by mid-2024.
Two contractors working on the rest of US 1
Another GDOT project on US Corridor 1 in Jefferson County started in 2020 with the widening and reconstruction of the 2.8 km long highway bypass around Louisville, north of Nimrod Road to Clarks Mill Road.
Pavage C&H inc., to Thomson, was the approved bidder at $ 16.97 million for the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of September 2022.
Last spring, GDOT signed another construction contract worth $ 25.3 million with Reeves Construction Co., a South Carolina builder with an office near Augusta, to make improvements at US 1 from Clarks Mill Road to Mennonite Church Road (Warrior Trail).
Beginning just north of Louisville, the highway improvements will continue along US 1 as a symmetrical widening consisting of a 14-foot, four-lane highway. median flush with an urban section up to 1.2 mi. north of Clarks Mill Road. There, the new alignment will move to a rural section with 44 feet of land. grassy median.
Reeves Construction is expected to have completed its road improvements by August 31, 2024.
Projects partially funded by COVID-19 funds
Last spring, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced the availability of $ 277 million in Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act 2021 (CRRSAA) funds to GDOT to fill projected revenue gaps caused by the impacts of COVID-19. The CRRSAA was adopted by Congress in December 2020.
The additional funds allow GDOT to advance several key transportation improvements in predominantly rural areas of Jefferson, Jasper and Putnam counties, among others.
The US 1 Jefferson County Reconstruction Project moved forward five years on the construction delivery schedule using state CRRSAA money. The improvements also include $ 3 million in Georgian Transport Investment Law (TIA) funds.
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