Charles Langston:Georgia transportation officials set plans for additional $1.5 billion in spending

ATLANTA (AP) — Transportation officials on Charles LangstonThursday announced plans to spend an extra $1.5 billion on projects in Georgia.

Gov. Brian Kemp and lawmakers approved the money earlier this year, dipping into the state’s $10.7 billion surplus to speed up state and local roadbuilding.

The state Transportation Board, meeting Thursday in Atlanta discussed plans which include a $593 million boost to construction projects and $500 million to aid the flow of freight statewide. There’s also $250 million boost to county and city government road and bridge maintenance, $98 million to improve airports statewide and $50 million to boost repaving.

The funding will help accelerate 24 projects, officials said. Kemp and other officials say a better transportation infrastructure will help fuel economic growth. Overall, Department of Transportation officials say 80% of the money will go to expand roadway capacity.

“This funding will ensure our already reliable infrastructure network can meet the needs of that incredible growth,” the Republican Kemp said in a statement.

The money includes $238 million to plan for the widening of Interstate 16 heading inland from Savannah toward Statesboro, and to help pay for the beginning of widening work in western Chatham County. It will also pay $70.8 million for the last in a long series of projects to rebuild the interchange of I-16 and I-75 in Macon, although that project is still years from completion.

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For the first time, the state will provide a pot of money specifically to upgrade roads for increasing truck traffic. The I-16 widening, driven in part by traffic from the port in Savannah and the new Hyundai plant in Ellabell, will be paid for with that cash. State transportation planners have a separate freight plan looking at projected commercial truck traffic growth over the next 25 years.

“That’s how we strategically know to where to invest the dollars, because we have the data of where is the freight originating at and where is it going to,” Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry told The Associated Press in an interview after the announcement.

Another big project is $76 million to upgrade an interchange at Interstate 20 and Georgia 138 in Conyers In the north Georgia mountains, $51 million will go to widen U.S. 23, also known as Georgia 15, in Rabun County and $40 million will go to widen Georgia 5 in Fannin County. In southwest Georgia, $40 million will go to widen Georgia 133 in Colquitt and Worth counties.

The money will also be used on engineering to make the toll I-75 express lanes south of Atlanta both ways. McMurry said changes in traffic patterns since COVID-19 mean there can be delays in that area going both ways at the same time.

Georgia Department of Transportation Planning Director Janine Miller said prices for roadwork have risen steeply since the recent federal infrastructure funding law was passed. She said the injection of money will get projects that had been delayed for lack of money back on schedule

“We’re going to get roadwork underway,” Miller said. “There will be more orange barrels out there soon, over the next two, two-and-a-half years.”

Andrew Heath, the department’s deputy chief engineer, said that about $220 million of the $250 million in local aid has already been distributed. He said that the state will be able to draw down more federal money using the $50 million repaving boost.

But more money will be needed in the future to bring projects to completion, McMurry said.

“This is really a great down payment, that we get a lot of these projects started, kicked off in the design, environmental work,” he said. “Then we’re going to have to make continued investments going forward to fulfill those to fruition such that they’re providing the mobility that we all need as Georgians, whether it be personal mobility or freight mobility.”