The Houston County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a $4.4 million contract to widen 1.7 miles of Carl Vinson Parkway from Watson Boulevard to Bateman Road, which is just north of Elberta Road on the Warner Robins side.
County Operations Director Tommy Stalnaker said after the meeting that work should begin within 60 days, and completion is expected in 18 to 24 months. The contractor will get a bonus if finished in 18 months. In other recent road projects the contractors have been routinely meeting the bonus deadline.
In the area just north of Watson Boulevard, the road will be widened to four traffic lanes, plus a raised, landscaped median. North of that stretch, the road will become five lanes, with four lanes for traffic and a turning lane.
The design calls for reconfiguring the intersection of Elberta Road, which forks into Carl Vinson Parkway on each side in separate locations. Both will be realigned so that Elberta will enter Carl Vinson at a 90-degree angle, and a stop-and-go traffic signal will be placed at each intersection.
"It's always been a difficult traffic situation and we've got the opportunity to correct it," Commission Chairman Ned Sanders said after Tuesday's meeting. "It just makes good sense not to continue something that is a deficient traffic situation."
The design also calls for a stop-and-go traffic signal on Carl Vinson Parkway at the entrance of the Home Depot shopping center in front of the Old Navy store.
"That has been a difficult situation with the turns," Sanders said.
The board awarded the contract to Lewis Trucking & Grading Inc., which presented the lowest of five bids.
The first phase of the Carl Vinson widening, from Watson Boulevard south to Russell Parkway, is under construction and is expected to be completed by July.
The commissioners Tuesday also approved a $1,021,901 change order in the phase 1 section that will realign Leverette Road/Corder Road and Arrowhead Trail, just east of Carl Vinson Parkway, so that the three align as a "true intersection." It will include turning lanes and signal upgrades.
According to a county document, the project would "improve efficiency, capacity and safety of the intersection."
The work is the latest in an aggressive road-building effort in Houston County that is funded by special local option sales tax funds from referendums approved in 2001 and 2006. The Carl Vinson Parkway project is from the 2001 sales tax.
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Please see WIDENING, 5B
WIDENING
Continued from 1B
Sanders
