Transportation Investment Act
Your Penny, Your Progress

One by one, interstate interchanges in Georgia that handle heavy traffic are being converted from the traditional 'interstate off-ramps to signage or traffic signals' layout to the newer 'interstate off-ramps to roundabouts' plan. The Interstate 75 interchange at SR 31/Madison Highway is the latest to make the change. After a couple of years of major construction, contractors have completed most tasks on this project with only some signage and 'clean-up' punch list items left to wrap up. 

When hearing about these sorts of projects, the first thought most Georgians have is, 'Why? Everyone understands the old interchange style, so won't this confuse drivers?' The answer is simple. This interstate conversion is being done at busy locations because the data is clear: roundabouts that connect off-ramps to the intersecting roadway are safer and traffic is more efficient than those with signage or signals at the off-ramps. Drivers must slow down and pay attention to maneuver through the roundabouts, yet traffic keeps moving so there's no lineup of vehicles on the ramps. 

In addition to those two key benefits to the 'roundabout interchanges,' Georgia DOT engineers made multiple additional improvements at the site. Let's take a look at a number of them, so that you can rest assured that this newly-remodeled interchange will be easy and safe to drive through.

Contractors completely replaced the older bridges at this site with one larger structure with a concrete median, enabling them to stay within the original structure's 'footprint.' Motorists will notice that the on- and off-ramps have been widened to allow for today's (and the future's) larger trucks and restriped for better visibility, especially during the overnight hours or bad weather.

While we're talking about improved visibility, designers also added new, updated lighting poles throughout the interchange. There is also new signage throughout the site to ensure that drivers know where to enter and exit the roundabouts and how to drive through them, as well as where not to go and what not to do.

Georgia DOT engineers are often asked, 'Why do you all include sidewalks throughout interstate interchanges and fencing on the overpasses?' It's state policy to include these features at interchanges, which fall into the unofficially-named 'Safety Measures Just In Case' category. There are valid reasons why a pedestrian might need to walk through an overpass and designers need to ensure that they have secure facilities, just as they do for people in vehicles. 

As for the roundabouts themselves, they've been in use for a few months already and motorists are handling them well. People who wondered how large semi-trucks would handle the curves around the masonry-and-concrete medians need not worry, as most truck drivers are doing fine - and if they do have difficulty, the center medians were designed with slanted concrete edges. Tires that accidentally run over an edge will easily roll over it. 

The approaches to the overpass from SR 31/Madison Highway were also modified. The roadway was widened on both ends, resurfaced and then reconfigured and lanes repainted to move traffic properly through the altered interchange. Traffic in both directions was separated by medians - concrete on the west end and grassed with curb and gutter on the east end - for added safety.

Georgians all over the state will likely see more 'roundabout interchange' construction projects as commercial trucks get larger and traffic numbers grow over time. Lowndes County motorists are adapting to the changes somewhat early in the history of Georgia's use of the layout. The benefits documented at this location will perhaps persuade leaders in other counties to consider their own interchange conversions, improving traffic safety and efficiency in other regions. Managing traffic with new designs and facilities is just one of the ways Georgia DOT is making good on its mission statement: Delivering a transportation system focused on innovation, safety, sustainability and mobility.

How are we doing on the progress of our hundreds of TIA projects underway statewide? Check out our latest quarterly video - The TIA Tracker - for current stats and highlights from our participating regions. It's a quick watch! Click here for the video.

When Columbus-Muscogee County leaders were selecting transportation projects to be funded through TIA, they focused a lot of attention on Buena Vista Road, an older thoroughfare that has seen a lot of changes through the city's history. TIA is funding three projects on Buena Vista Road, two for the River Valley region's TIA 1 cycle and one for its TIA 2 cycle.

As Columbus-Muscogee County plans how to grow in size and influence, it has a two-pronged economic development strategy: 1) expand with new opportunities and 2) transform the older areas to broaden their appeal and capabilities. The three Buena Vista Road projects are a strong part of that second strategy.

In the latest short video in our On the Road with TIA series, local planners and leaders discuss the importance of Buena Vista Road, the changes being made through TIA and the goals behind the projects.

Click here to watch the video.

Did you know that Georgia has 103 public use airports? Out of that seemingly high number, only eight have regularly scheduled airline services. Of course, Hartsfield-Atlanta International Airport is the state's flagship airport with nearly 52 million passenger flights per year (most recently counted in 2019), with the Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport coming in second with nearly 1.4 million. At the third spot is Augusta Regional Airport with just over 300,000.

Regional airports are invaluable to Georgians around the state, especially those whose homes and businesses are several hours away from Hartsfield-Atlanta. Even so, nearly every airport's home community struggles with challenges like updating technologies, infrastructure maintenance, environmental factors and competition. All of these issues essentially point to one simple truth: like most ventures, it takes money to make money.

When developing their final investment list of projects for their second decade of TIA participation, the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) region's leadership roundtable included four airport projects in Augusta-Richmond County to make long-awaited improvements at two facilities: two at Daniel Field and two at Augusta Regional Airport. Both of the Augusta Regional Airport projects recently completed major construction, and in our latest short video airport leaders explain the significance of the facility to both Augusta and the CSRA, and why TIA investment is crucial to both the city's and region's success.

Click here to watch the video.

Want to check out our progress on the hundreds of TIA projects underway statewide? Check out our new quarterly video - The TIA Tracker - for the latest stats and highlights from our participating regions. It's a quick watch, and easily accessible. Click here for the video.

Economic and civic growth in counties and cities inevitably means more large truck traffic. Decades ago, communities were just fine with narrow, two-lane streets, a tightly-built downtown or government and commercial district, and neighborhoods set on grids with neat four-way stops, as commercial vehicles were much smaller and not as numerous. Today, however, a typical semi truck is 72 feet long, 8.5 feet wide, 13.5 feet tall and they can weigh as much as 40 tons (80,000 pounds!) loaded. With hundreds of these vehicles driving through older civic lay-outs and infrastructure, it's no surprise that traffic safety and efficiency are negatively affected. Many municipal areas are tackling the big truck problem by constructing designated routes just for them.

In this video series, we're taking a look at projects that are underway in TIA regions, why they were selected for program inclusion and how they're expected to resolve issues in their communities. Local officials and TIA staff recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Waynesboro Truck Route, and were excited at the prospect of improved traffic through the area. Click here to discover why they're celebrating.

Even with the recent holiday season and our current spate of cold weather, contractors and crews adding an Interstate 185 interchange at Old Cusseta Road have made a huge amount of progress over the past couple of months. The most visible sign of the future interchange is the demolished segment of Farr Road that until recently ran alongside the Interstate 185 overpass. Project plans required the elimination of this portion of Farr Road to make room for the interchange's ramps. The second most visible sign of the future interchange is the newly-graded land along the south part of the overpass that will eventually become an off-ramp. 

A couple of weeks ago, contractors opened the just finished - new signage and everything - realigned section of Farr Road that starts at what used to be C Street and then shifts traffic to the east, goes around Parkway Place Apartments and connects to Old Cusseta Road about a block from Bedford Avenue. If you use a GPS system to get around Columbus, please know that some of these apps have not yet updated their maps. As of this blog posting, there were still pop-up closure alerts for Farr Road. If your route uses Farr Road through this area, you can take the new segment and end up very close to where you used to go. 

Meanwhile, over on the other side of this project, you may encounter a long row of utility teams on Cusseta Road near Odis Spencer Stadium, where they're moving lines to make room for a new paved multi-use trail that will run along a widened roadway. At the Cusseta Road and Old Cusseta Road merge point, contractors will later convert the 'traffic triangle' into an easier-to-navigate roundabout. With all the orange-and-white barrels everywhere and teams sometimes working on both sides of the roadway, driving alert and paying full attention to surroundings through this area is a must.

Project engineers and contractors have scheduled completion of this project to occur in spring of 2026. With a bit more than a year's worth of work to come, most of it will be focused on the transformation of the Interstate 185 overpass into a fully-functional interchange. Strategically, having the new exits to and from Old Cusseta Road just before the interstate's terminal interchange at US 280 in the Fort Moore region will allow motorists, especially commercial truck drivers, to have more route options and flexibility on Columbus's south end. Those who will eventually travel more directly to their destinations by using the future Old Cusseta Road interchange will relieve traffic entering and exiting the interstate from the Fort Moore area as well as the more northward interchange at St. Mary's Road. More efficient traffic flow equals safer and happier drivers, which also equals a happier community overall.

US 280 crosses Georgia from Columbus in the west to Savannah in the east, and while it has been a priority corridor for development for decades, some host counties have had difficulty making the improvements that would help them capitalize on its strategic location. While selecting projects for TIA funding in the River Valley region, leaders have selected several sections of US 280 for widening and other enhancements and in the past ten years, two of those large projects in Crisp County have been completed: the widening of the US 280 bridge over Lake Blackshear and the US 280 widening from the Lake Blackshear bridge to the SR 300 connector in Cordele.

In this video series, we're taking a look at projects that were recently completed in TIA regions, why they were selected for program inclusion and how they're expected to resolve issues in their communities. Click here to hear local leaders discuss how widening US 280 in Crisp County will provide boost driver safety as well as enhance both economic and civic progress.

There are six projects widening segments of SR 4/US 1 in the TIA 1 and TIA 2 final investment lists. Three are located in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) region and three are in the Heart of Georgia Altamaha (HOGA) region. Overall, SR 4/US 1 extends north and south through east-central Georgia, from Charlton County at the state's southern border all the way to the Augusta Metro area. As a primary transportation corridor, it's not surprising that local leaders and officials from two participating TIA regions chose to widen several sections of the highway, three in Appling and Toombs Counties in HOGA and three in Jefferson County in CSRA. One Appling County project located near Georgia Power's Plant Hatch has already completed major construction, but the all the other five projects are currently in construction.

For Jefferson County, having three sections of SR 4/US 1 under construction end-to-end has created a long construction work zone, with teams doing an assortment of tasks at varying stages of progress. Drivers traveling from Louisville to Wrens will encounter a number of crews and vehicles, and it's interesting to see all the progress underway at various points. It also takes some dedicated focus to maintain attention to the roadway and not get distracted by the range of activities.

For an extended example of the different crews a driver may encounter on this stretch of highway - and how they may steal focus - let's take a photographic drive through the northernmost project segment, which extends from SR 540 at Wrens southward to the Mennonite Church Road intersection.

At SR 540, the long rows of orange and white barrels show drivers that this project won't be a brief one and that they need to be alert. With only a three minute drive southward, we encounter our first crew and a traffic shift. While the project is 86% complete and much of the roadway already layered with new asphalt, there are places here and there where it is yet to be laid. Here, a backhoe is moving dirt and a tractor is leveling it, preparing the land for a new lane coming in. With large vehicles in the median, drivers on both sides need to be attentive to their movements. 

After driving for only four more minutes, we see a small team of workers on the edge of the road. They're marking the new asphalt to ensure that the stripes they'll paint later in the day will be according to state policy. While they're all wearing their fluorescent protective gear for visibility and are behind barrels, it's easy to imagine how an inattentive motorist could cause a near miss or worse. Just a minute southward again, and we have some surprise utility crews! They're not with this construction project but were called in the early morning hours to respond when a vehicle hit a power pole in nearby right-of-way. Bucket trucks can be fascinating to watch in action, but drivers need to stay focused to avoid additional accidents.

After driving an additional four minutes, we pass a curious truck with a worker spraying a weird blue substance all over the dirt on the roadsides. If you start wondering what the blue stuff is, you're now driving a bit distracted! After a query to construction engineers, you'll be happy to know that the stuff is called hydroseed, a mixture of grass seed, water, fertilizer and wood fibers.

After another three minutes driving southward, we reach the project's southern end at Mennonite Church Road and Warrior Trail near Jefferson County High School. After making a U-turn and reaching Campground Road, we see the project's staging area just off the roadside. It's a large dirt area with piles of dirt, gravel and other materials, concrete pipe segments and trucks moving here and there and often entering and exiting the roadway. If you have kids, it's fun to identify the different construction vehicles, watching them lift and carry heavy loads, and now we're driving a bit distracted again. In this section of the project, it only takes a moment of inattention to the roadway to develop a dangerous situation.

When we get back to the SR 540 intersection, there's yet another crew that started work after we left. If a business or home has a driveway that's connected to a highway construction project, project planners are required to ensure that the driveway is repaired or replaced. This team is finishing up a local business's new driveway and resetting road signs. It's a bit of work to get a road sign installed according to state requirements, and seeing a stop sign bob up and down can definitely be a distraction.

The trip from this project's end to end only took 15 minutes each way, and yet we encountered six work teams in medians, on roadsides and sometimes in the lanes. That averages to happening upon a different group every 2.5 minutes. On one hand, we can be excited that so much is underway in this work zone and soon the region will have a bit more of this corridor expanded and resurfaced to accommodate growing numbers of commercial trucks for economic development as well as passenger cars driven by new residents and neighbors. On the other hand, if you're not used to moderating your driving to be safe and focused through work zones, you could be taking a number of risky chances passing the groups of workers, their equipment and trucks. And don't forget - this is just one of three segments of SR 4/US 1 in a row that are under construction. Georgia DOT's advice to #DriveAlert and #ArriveAliveGA while dealing with the multiple projects may be a challenge, but it's one that will keep everyone safe while long-anticipated transportation improvements are underway.

 

It's often exciting when a large corporation or government agency relocates to a new community. After the enthusiasm calms down, local officials have to figure out how to accommodate the changes that come with a sudden influx of residents, and that includes infrastructure adjustments to handle increased residential and business traffic.

In this video series, we're taking a look at projects that are underway in TIA regions, why they were selected for program inclusion and how they're expected to resolve issues in their communities. Click here to discover how improvements to Columbia County's SR 388 corridor at Interstate 20 are expected to affect traffic flow in an area experiencing a wave of growth.