The State Has Released a List of $1.5 Billion in Transportation Projects. Work on Improving Bartow and Gordon Has Begun
Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday that the state will spend $1.5 billion in extra money that the General Assembly set aside earlier this year to improve transportation facilities.
The money will help fund important projects in Gordon and Bartow counties.
The one-time transfer of transportation funds will add 58% more money to the Georgia Department of Transportation’s capital building program. It will also more than double the amount of money the state gives to local governments to improve transportation, add 32% more money to projects that pave roads, pay for changes at several general aviation airports, and start a new program to make moving freight across Georgia easier.
Kemp told Capitol Beat in an exclusive interview, “What I like most about it is that it will keep people working in all parts of our state and give them money to support their families.”
The DOT’s head of planning, Jannine Miller, said that 80% of the $1.5 billion will be used to make roads bigger.
Miller told the State Transportation Board on Thursday, “We are a growing state, both in terms of people and goods.” “That skill will make a big difference.”
The largest amount of money, $593 million, will help the DOT keep up with rising road-building costs and the increased demand on Georgia’s highways caused by the state’s growing population. The money will be used to speed up the building of 24 road projects.
Kemp said, “It gives us a big boost to make sure no projects are put on hold.”
One of the things that needs to be done is to make Cass White Road wider in Bartow County, from Busch Drive to just east of the Highland 75 Industrial Park. The work to improve the area where Ga. 53 meets Plainville Road and Brownlee Mountain Road in Gordon County is also important.
The GDOT report says that the $15 million set aside for the Cass White Road project will allow work to begin a year early, in 2026. The road will be slightly rearranged to have two 12-foot-wide lanes for cars and one 4-foot-wide bike lane in each way, with a 20-foot-wide raised median in the middle. Edges made of concrete will line the outside edge, and there will be a path that is 5 feet wide and a grass strip that is 6 feet wide in between them.
Kemp also set aside $5.1 million to move the project to make the Ga. 53 crossing safer by three years, to 2025. It will be changed into a stop-controlled RCUT, which is a limited crossing U-turn. Drivers on Plainville and Brownlee Mountain roads will go down and around Ga. 53 instead of going straight across it.
Updating the Interstate 16/I-75 interchange in Bibb County (work that has been put off for years), adding more toll lanes to I-75 south of Atlanta so that they can be used by both northbound and southbound traffic at the same time, and extending Ga. 400 at its northern end in Lumpkin County are some of the other highway projects that will be paid for by the infrastructure package.
The $500 million freight program has 18 projects. The most important ones are widening I-16 in Chatham and Effingham counties to make it easier for cargo to enter and exit the Port of Savannah, making improvements to Ga. 365 in Hall County to make it easier for cargo to leave the Georgia Ports Authority’s planned inland port in Gainesville, and making improvements to Ga. 5 and Ga. 515 in Pickens County.
Cities and counties will get $250 million to improve transportation in their own areas. The building of a new Griffin/Spalding Regional Airport is one of the main reasons why airport help will go up by $98 million. The DOT’s capital upkeep budget will get an extra $50 million, which will be used to resurface state highways across Georgia.