WAYCROSS — Brantley County representatives have agreed to pass a resolution joining Ware County and Pierce County in resurrecting the old east bypass project, which was officially declared dead 10 years ago.
A feasibility study expanded the project to a perimeter road which would encircle Waycross which would include the southern perimeter road running through all three counties. It would be built in phases.
Work for the three county commissions now centers on a joint resolution to be approved by each county commission.
“The Brantley County Board of Commissioners will pass a resolution this week in support of that,” said County Manager Joey Cason. “All three parties agree it has the potential to be a good thing.”
Brantley County was represented by Cason, Chairman Skipper Harris, Commissioner Hal Herndon and Michael Brooks.
Representing Ware County, which hosted the Tri-County meeting were County Manager James Shubert, Clerk Melinda Brooks, Commissioners Leonard Burse, Jon Tindall, Barry Cox and Chairman Elmer Thrift.
Representing Pierce County were County Manager Raphel Maddox, Chairman Neil Bennett, commissioners Troy Mattox and David Lowman and Clerk Donna Golding.
“The whole purpose of the meeting was to discuss the potential future of a bypass road around the City of Waycross,” Cason said. “It will come through the edge of Brantley County and go through Pierce County as well.”
The new proposed perimeter road would relieve congestion through the city by providing an alternate route for big trucks. The perimeter road would run through all three counties and would be built in phases.
The east bypass route would begin at Lairsey Crossing (U.S. Highway 84) between Blackshear and Waycross. It would utilize Midway Church Road and include a new roadway and bridges across the Satilla River, crossing in to extreme western Brantley County coming out on U.S. Highway 82 near Woodard Chapel Church. The road would continue and link up with U.S. 1 near Aycock Road.
“It’s going to be somewhere close to the Schlatterville area or from there back towards Waycross a little bit,” explained Cason. “To give you a perspective on where that’s at, it’s near Jerry J’s offices and T & T Fencing. Their current projection has it going through there.
“There’s too many houses there, though. So we’re saying probably the closest spot they could go to would be Miles Still Road. That would probably be the closest place they could work that out.”
Cason said the project could be years in the planning stage before it would begin.
“It’s years away,” he said. “Unless I work until I’m 80 I’m not going to see this. We’ve (county commission) been trying for three years to get Britt Still Road paved and it may not begin until 2027. It’s a dirt road.
“But if you don’t start working on this project it’ll never happen.”
The original proposal, first discussed in 2002, did not include any part in Brantley County. It was killed in the face of 62 percent public opposition to the proposal shortly before Christmas, 2015.
The next meeting of the three commissions is scheduled for Monday, December 1 at 10 a.m. in the second floor conference room of the Ware County Administration Building.
