The Newton County Board of Commissioners awarded contracts for transportation projects at last Tuesday’s meeting.
Projects include the Alcovy Road and SR 142 intersection, Alcovy Trestle Road construction and improvements to two damaged roads in Oxford.

Airport Road at SR 142 Intersection Upgrade

“We’re going to add turn lanes on 142 as safety improvements both eastbound and westbound, and also a minor realignment of Airport Road both north and south of 142,” said Assistant County Manager Tom Garrett of the intersection upgrade.

The BOC awarded a contract of $579,249.45 to fulfill this project.

Garrett said the turn lanes on 142 will add a safety feature for drivers, as travelers turning left onto Airport Road will be getting out of the flow of traffic. The same goes for the right turn lane, allowing drivers to make a safer turn.

Currently, the intersection of Airport Road and SR 142 is misaligned. The project will also provide a separation between the two roads that’s safer and meets GDOT’s requirements, said Garrett.

As it stands, the roads have about an 85-foot separation. The alignment will separate the roads by about 350 feet, resolving left turn conflicts.

The project is funded by 2011 SPLOST revenues.

Alcovy Trestle Rd at SR 111 construction

The BOC awarded a bid to ER Snell Contractor, Inc. for $833,103.33 to pave Alcovy Road at SR 111.

As they completed the Airport Road plans, said Garrett, they worked with GDOT to get pavement on SR 142 thickened. At that point they had already bid out Alcovy Trestle Road, but GDOT recommended a thinner pavement on SR 142.
“As a cost-saving measure, we asked GDOT to use similar pavement on Alcovy as on the Airport Road at 142 project,” Garrett said.

The asphalt thickness went down two inches — from 11.5 to 9.5 inches. Garrett explained that this is still a pretty substantial pavement section. GDOT advised that if the pavement was too thick it could create a problem of surface water getting trapped under the roadway.

Garrett said this pavement can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run.

Newton County and City of Oxford road improvements

The BOC approved funds to assist the City of Oxford in improving Moore and West Soule streets.

Garrett said the funding is available and the project was approved months ago. They will be providing Oxford with all the equipment and trucks to resolve the damage on both streets.

“We’ve done this for Porterdale and Covington,” Garrett said. “We’ve had that relationship with the cities and I think that works out well.”