Road work on the three-phase County Farm Road, U.S. Highway 84/Knox Road/New School Road construction and improvement project is expected to be completed later this month.
“All paving operations should be complete and all roads should be open to traffic by mid-February,” said Chad Hartley. Hartley is the Transportation Investment Act (TIA) Construction Manager with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT).
Hartley said the current schedule would depend on weather conditions.
East Coast Asphalt of Douglas is the contractor on the $4.35 million project. The work had been scheduled for completion last August, but weather and utility delays postponed that date.
The project has included improvements or construction to three intersections along U.S. Highway 84 between County Farm Road and Owens Crossing.
New signals have been installed at U.S. Highway 84 and County Farm Road.
A new road, Shiloh Road Extension, has also been constructed from U.S. Highway 84, across to County Farm Road behind the United Market to tie in with the existing intersection of County Farm Road and Shiloh Road. The road opened to traffic Monday.
A second northbound lane has been constructed on County Farm Road from Shiloh Road to the entrance driveway of Pierce County Middle School.
Deceleration lanes (left turn lanes) and center turn lanes have been added on U.S. Highway 84 at the intersections of New School Road/Owens Road and Knox Road.
Due to its proximity to both the high school, middle school, United Market and the Dollar General stores the area features high traffic flow. All three areas have been the site of 60 accidents and two fatalities in recent years.
The improvements are designed to improve traffic flow and safety at these intersections by separating turning traffic from the higher speed through traffic on U.S. Highway 84.
Funding for the project has come from the Transportation Investment Act (TIA).
The Southern Georgia Region, including Pierce and 17 other counties in the area, approved a 10year one percent sales tax to fund regional and local transportation improvements. The Southern Georgia Region passed the sales tax in 2018.
TIA projects are funded using the regional sales tax.
