With the deadline bearing down Wednesday to submit projects for the regional transportation referendum’s unconstrained list, Rockdale County and Conyers are submitting to GDOT a wish list of projects.
Rockdale County CEO Richard Oden and Conyers Mayor Randy Mills met Monday morning with county and city staff and with members of Rockdale’s SPLOST transportation committee to determine the final list of projects to submit to GDOT. The county’s SPLOST is not connected to the regional transportation referendum, which would be a separate 1-cent sales tax levied in all 10 counties of the metro-Atlanta region if it passed in 2012.
The projects submitted by Rockdale County and Conyers include:
- Widening of the Sigman Road corridor from Lester Road to Ga. Highway 20 and from Ga. Highway 138 to Salem Road was unanimously agreed upon, according to Mills.
- A non-access bridge, similar to the Parker Road bridge, between Salem Road and Ga. Highway 138, was also on the list. There was also discussion of proposing HOV and GRTA bus entrance and exit ramps to Interstate 20.
- Widening of Ga. Highway 138 north of the Georgia International Horse Park, going into Newton and Walton counties, to facilitate inter-county travel was also among the projects.
- Completing the Old Covington underpass below Ga. Highway 138 to the Wal-Mart shopping area was a local project that was submitted for relieving traffic at the 138 and I-20 intersection.
- Widening of Flat Shoals Road between Old Salem Road and Salem Road was another project to be put onto the list.
“We all agreed on them,” said Mills. “That’s the list that’s been circulating for a while.”
Mills said Conyers-Rockdale would also be supporting a DeKalb County project on the I-20 and I-285 interchange.
The unconstrained list is part of the process of eventually coming up with a project list voters will see on the ballot in 2012 when they choose whether or not to have a 1-cent sales tax for regional transportation projects over 10 years. Rockdale is part of the Atlanta regional roundtable.
From the unconstrained list, the roundtable planning director and the roundtable executive committee work to develop a list that is financially feasible, regionally balanced, and meets the criteria laid out by the roundtable, said Mills.
Check back for the full story in the April 2 edition of The Rockdale News.
