Three county intersections are scheduled for construction within the next five years after the Newton County Board of Commissioners approved accepting federal funding at their Nov. 6 meeting.
The board of commissioners approved for county engineer Tom Garrett to accept federal highway funding administered by the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Georgia Department of Transportation for road improvements at the intersections of Brown Bridge and Crowell roads, Covington Bypass and Flat Shoals roads and Ga. Highway 81 at Ga. Highway 142.
The total cost for all the projects is $2,620,000. Garrett said the county will have to match 20 percent of the total projected cost of the projects, which is $524,000. He said the remaining 80 percent of the funding, which totals to $2,096,000, will come from federal highway funding.
Garrett said the funding will be distributed from Fiscal Year 2013 to Fiscal Year 2017. He said construction on the Brown Bridge and Crowell roads and Covington Bypass and Flat Shoals roads intersections will start in 2016; and construction at the Ga. Highway 81 and Ga.Highway 142 intersection will begin in 2017.
According to a presentation from Garrett shown at the board's work session meeting on Nov. 6, the following construction will begin at the three intersections.
Brown Bridge at Crowell Road
•Additional turn signal phases will be added
•The left turn lane on Brown Bridge Road will be lengthened
•The horizontal alignment will be improved
•Estimated Cost: $580,000
Flat Shoals Road at Covington Bypass
•Traffic signals will be added
•Left turn lanes will be added in all directions
•Coordination with the Newton County Fire Department
•Estimated cost: $1,100,000.
Ga. Highway 81 at Ga. Highway 142
Option 1:
•Traffic signals will be added
•Ga. Highway 81 South will be converted to Ga. Highway 142 East through motion
•The intersection will be converted to a 90 degree intersection
Option 2:
•Traffic signals will be added
•Ga. Highway 81 North/South will be kept a through motion
•The intersection will be converted into a 90 degree intersection
•Estimated cost: $940,000
•Also at the board meeting, the commissioners approved for portions of several roads to be repaired with Local Maintenance Improvement Grant funding. Those roads include Jack Neely Road, McGiboney Road, Oak Hill Road, Malcom Road and Mote Road. The board also approved for a portion of Dixie Road to be repaired with funds from the 2011 SPLOST. Construction on the roads is scheduled for next year. Garrett said each of the projects should be completed within a 90 day window. The total cost for all of those road projects is $1,285,968.
