The intersection of Gees Mill and Sigman Road will soon see a traffic signal installed using funding from the local penny sales tax.

The construction for the project, which will upgrade the intersection from a four-way stop to a traffic signal with shared turn lanes, will cost about $1,365,570, said Rockdale County Director of Transportation Miguel Valentine at Tuesday's Board of Commissioners worksession.

Of that, about $790,570 will be funded using Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funding set aside for transportation projects. The remaining cost, about $575,000, will be funded by federal funds through the Georgia Department of Transportation.

The Pittman Construction Company was chosen for the contract out of four bids: CEMS Inc at $1.587 million, ER Snell at $1.689 million, and CW Matthews at $1.439 million.

"That's going to make a lot of people happy in that corridor," said Commissioner Oz Nesbitt.

Construction should start around April and be complete around the end of 2013

Commissioner JaNice Van Ness asked about the progress of widening the Sigman Road corridor.

Valentin said the widening will be done in three segments from west to east, The segment from Ga. Highway 138 to Dogwood, which passes Gees Mill and several major industries such as HIllphoenix and Pratt, is on the schedule in about 10-15 years, due to the cost.

Chairman Richard Oden said, referring to the T-SPLOST referrendum that was voted down last July, "The failure of the Transportation Investment Act has pushed it out 15, 20 years." The Sigman Road widening was on the list of projects to be funded by the T-SPLOST had it passed.