During the Heart of Georgia Altamaha (HOGA) region's first TIA decade, the City of Claxton resurfaced 26 of its streets. During its second TIA decade, an additional 17 Claxton streets will get new asphalt. In fact, the vast majority of HOGA projects within both decades are resurfacings, whether for state routes or municipal roads. Ask any city or county leader and they'll tell you: infrastructure maintenance is a necessary but expensive task,. For many counties and cities within the HOGA region, finding money in the budget to resurface roadways can be difficult, often leading to many local governments putting the jobs on hold. However, when local leaders learned that TIA funds could provide necessary money to take old projects off back burners - especially roadway resurfacings - they added a lot of them to their project investment lists. There are hundreds of them, in fact.
Because there are so many projects involving portions of city streets and county roads to contract out, local leaders and engineers are bundling groups of smaller projects into one proposal to be bid out to infrastructure contractors. This makes business sense for a variety of reasons: 1) instead of having to deal with many contractors, they can work with one to do multiple projects; 2) the contractor can utilize resources more efficiently, making the overall venture more cost-efficient; and 3) having one contractor do multiple sites at once can make the work go quicker, which lessens impacts to the driving community. The contractors get larger projects to do, and local governments have a less complicated, less expensive way to get more roads upgraded. It's a win-win for everyone.
A bundle of seven portions of streets in Claxton was recently bid out and the winning contractor is McLendon Enterprises of Vidalia. A 'notice to proceed' order was issued to McLendon at the end of June, and now the contractor is gearing up to start work.
Two of the streets to be resurfaced are near county offices, where people from all over Evans County come for services. West James Street from Gregory Street to North Grady Street includes the Evans County Board of Education, and many intersections that provide direct access to the Claxton Police Department, the Evans County Board of Commissioners Office and the Evans County Library. North Newton Street from SR 30 to West James Street includes the Evans County Health Department.
Because there are so many projects involving portions of city streets and county roads to contract out, local leaders and engineers are bundling groups of smaller projects into one proposal to be bid out to infrastructure contractors. This makes business sense for a variety of reasons: 1) instead of having to deal with many contractors, they can work with one to do multiple projects; 2) the contractor can utilize resources more efficiently, making the overall venture more cost-efficient; and 3) having one contractor do multiple sites at once can make the work go quicker, which lessens impacts to the driving community. The contractors get larger projects to do, and local governments have a less complicated, less expensive way to get more roads upgraded. It's a win-win for everyone.
A bundle of seven portions of streets in Claxton was recently bid out and the winning contractor is McLendon Enterprises of Vidalia. A 'notice to proceed' order was issued to McLendon at the end of June, and now the contractor is gearing up to start work.
Two of the streets to be resurfaced are near county offices, where people from all over Evans County come for services. West James Street from Gregory Street to North Grady Street includes the Evans County Board of Education, and many intersections that provide direct access to the Claxton Police Department, the Evans County Board of Commissioners Office and the Evans County Library. North Newton Street from SR 30 to West James Street includes the Evans County Health Department.
Many of the streets in this resurfacing bundle are in Claxton's northwest quadrant and traffic can be heavy. For example, North Grady Street from SR 30 to West James Street is bordered on one side by the famous Claxton Fruitcake Company bakery and on the other side by the Evans County Superior Court Buildings. Not far away, Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive from SR 73 to Church Street is a well-traveled corridor in one of Claxton's older neighborhoods. It has many public gathering places, including churches, funeral homes and popular restaurants.
Not all streets to be resurfaced in this bundle are in business or government areas. The group also includes South Spring Street from West Smith Street to West Liberty Street and Earl Avenue from South College to Hendrix Street. When businesses or industries look to set up shop in a new town or city, the quality of the residential infrastructure can be as important as the commercial thoroughfares. Civic and economic growth are both key factors in a municipality's success, and everyone wants to live in towns where the roads are safe and smooth.
Claxton residents and visitors will want to keep an eye out for alerts sharing information about construction activity and any possible traffic slow-downs related to the resurfacing crews at work. Drivers may deal with disruptions for a time, but when the projects are complete the whole county will benefit from safer, more efficient streets that are attractive and will last for years to come.