Last Thursday the Georgia DOT and local officials came together to celebrate the completion of two Transportation Investment Act (TIA) projects in Appling County with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. These projects fall within the Heart of Georgia Altamaha region, which was one of three regions in Georgia that passed the TIA by public referendum in July 2012 to allow a one penny sales tax to be collected over a ten year period for funding local and regional transportation infrastructure projects.
“Those of you from the Appling County and the Heart of Georgia Region look at each other and say thank you because what you’ve done is helped pass TIA. It is one of the most envious programs that we have in the State of Georgia right now,” stated State Transportation Board Chair Don Grantham. “I say that with all sincerity and honest because I’m from Augusta and Richmond County and we passed it,” noted Grantham.
Although these two projects were originally one and are closely related, they were divided by Appling County officials and the designer, Hofstadter and Associates, due to the different timeframes required for construction. The first project involved replacement of three bridges along Zoar Road (County Route 575), which cross Sweetwater Creek, Bishop Creek, and the Big Satilla Tributary. In total these three bridges amount to 260 feet of new pre-stressed bridge with 100 foot approaches in each direction. This project was bid on January 14, 2013 and awarded to Southern Concrete for the sum of approximately $1.2 million. Construction of these bridges began in spring of 2013 and was completed in March of 2015.
The second project, which immediately followed construction of the three new bridges, consisted of over 11 miles of roadway patching, widening, leveling, and resurfacing for Zoar Road. This project was bid on March 12, 2015 and awarded to Georgia Asphalt Producers of Baxley, Georgia. Construction for this project began on April 13, 2015 and is now complete. The cost of construction for this project was just under $2.1 million.
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