Transportation Investment Act
Your Penny, Your Progress

The construction of a three-mile-long bypass is a complicated project and Hancock County's project building a new SR 15 bypass is no exception.  Contractors have completed more than 80% of their tasks, and to date they have installed and repositioned utility lines, graded roadway, produced drainage structures, paved most of the new lanes with asphalt and built an overpass with an off-ramp. Because most area residents can only see the work on the bypass where it connects to SR 15 and the new SR 16 overpass, you may be wondering how the rest of the majority of the site is coming along. In this blog post, we're happy to share some new photos that show how much progress has been made.

At the point where the new bypass connects to SR 15 on its north end, near Hancock Central Middle School and M. E. Lewis Sr. Elementary School, you can see that about a mile of the new lanes here have been asphalt-paved as they curve to the southeast.  As the roadway approaches the new SR 16 overpass, the lanes are graded and paving activity will increase through coming months. 

A view of the SR 16 bridge shows safety features like fencing on the guardrail. Next to the future off-ramp, you can also see a crew prepping this section of SR 16 to be widened. In the future, any local or commercial vehicles that need to exit the bypass at the halfway point will do so here.

In between the SR 16 overpass and the bypass's south end, we drop down a bit to see some of the many drainage structures that have been installed along the roadway. In times of heavy rain and storms, this culvert and these piles of riprap stones will channel roadway runoff and prevent erosion and other environmental damage. At the bypass's southern intersection with SR 15, near Cody Johnson Road, the new lanes show how the bypass will divert large commercial trucks and other non-local traffic away from the city center.

Contractors will be busy through the spring months, with activities focused on completing the asphalt paving, striping the new lanes and widening the section of SR 16 near the overpass. Weather permitting, they estimate that this phase of the SR 15/East Sparta Bypass could be opened to traffic in May. When the roadway is opened, no doubt local residents will join the commercial trucks in taking a trip through the bypass, getting a good look at the new infrastructure that will improve safety and driving times by reducing the numbers of large vehicles on Sparta's city streets.

 

Each region that participates in TIA receives 25% of their proceeds back in the form of transportation discretionary funds. The leaders of each county and city within those regions have sole responsibility when choosing how to use their portions of those monies. Like those in many TIA communities, officials in the City of Grovetown opted to use some of their TIA discretionary funds as a match against a grant from Georgia DOT's Local Maintenance and Improvements (LMIG) program to resurface a long section of Harlem-Grovetown Road, a growing corridor. This allowed Grovetown to cover the cost of the roadway upgrade without dipping into the city's own budget.

In this new After the Project short video, Grovetown administrators explain why the resurfacing project was necessary and how TIA discretionary funds allowed them to get the work done with no ongoing financial burden. Click here to watch the video.

In December, contractors completed construction on this TIA project that reconstructed the primary runway at Columbus Airport and officials reopened the facility to plane traffic. Videographers at WTVM News Leader 9 in Columbus produced this time-lapse video showing how crews removed the many layers of the old runway and replaced them with a long-lasting, safe and efficient new one. If you love 'how-they-did-it' videos, you'll really enjoy this one. Click here for the full video.

TIA's participating Georgia regions made a lot of progress with their TIA projects in the past few months! Check out our latest quarterly video - The TIA Tracker - for current stats and highlights. It's a quick watch! Click here for the video.

Every now and then in Georgia, preconstruction activities for road or bridge projects reveal unique, protected plants or animals living within the future work zones. In our latest On the Road with TIA video, we show how a team of dedicated scientists and volunteers braved a sludgy swamp to relocate pitcherplants discovered on a Coffee County road side. Click here to watch the video.

TIA's participating Georgia regions made a lot of progress with their TIA projects in the past few months! Check out our latest quarterly video - The TIA Tracker - for current stats and highlights. It's a quick watch! Click here for the video.

Did you know that the original Satilla River Bridge on US 84 was built in 1923, more than 100 years ago? Some Ware and Pierce County residents may remember that it was later widened in 1982, 43 years ago. With modern vehicles getting larger and modern drivers going faster, it was definitely time to upgrade the structure. Today, a year and 3 months after construction started on this project, contractors are half done and a bit ahead of schedule, which is cause for celebration. Let's take a look at what's happening at the site today, and note what benchmarks are just ahead.

The new bridges' future westbound sides are mostly complete, with only striping, approaches and other related tasks remaining. The approaches on the west end and between the two new structures have been layered with both concrete and asphalt for durability. 

The approach on the east end is currently under construction, with a crew building the wooden forms that will later shape and set the lower concrete layer. 

While some crews are finishing the bridges' approaches, other teams are completing work on erosion control measures and drainage systems. The project's designers and engineers have made sure that any water on these bridges will not only run off quickly, but it will run off in a direction and manner that doesn't allow water to collect and weaken the structures over time or to erode of the Satilla River's hillsides. Those huge rocks on the slope and even the new grass that has been laid are also erosion control measures as well as features that make the area more attractive. 

In the next couple of months, the approaches and drainage systems will be completed and the future westbound side will be striped for single-lane-each-way traffic. Contractors expect to move all traffic to the new bridges in November, and by the start of 2026 they should be taking down the remaining old side and starting construction on the future eastbound side. As the construction schedule timed the entire project to be finished in four years, we're still looking at both sides of the new bridges being opened to traffic in 2028. Hopefully, the contractors will be able to keep up their good pace, and drivers can help them out by remembering to drive alert through the work zone, slowing their speeds and being mindful of the crews and other drivers. 

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.