Planners approve next generation of transportation projects, costing nearly $900 million

Planners signed off on nearly $900 million in transportation projects across the Macon metropolitan area Wednesday.

The Macon Area Transportation Study Policy Committee gave the green light to the updated 2040 Long Range Transportation Plan, which provides a scope, budget and priority for road projects along state routes and interstates.

Much of the construction on the list of 53 road and bridge projects would be in Bibb County, while Jones, Monroe and Crawford counties would also have some work. The funding will come from a combination of federal, state and local governments.

The committee’s vote Wednesday concluded more than two years of work, said Mike Greenwald, planning director for the Macon-Bibb County Planning and Zoning Commission.

Updating the $882 million plan involved the Planning and Zoning staff, various committees and other state and local transportation officials. There also was community involvement through meetings and public comment periods.

“I think it’s a good plan,” said Macon-Bibb County Commissioner Scotty Shepherd, who serves on the policy committee. “I think it will last us for a good, long while so that we don’t have to make a lot of changes. Hopefully the budget can support it, and we can move on with it.”

But while the long range plan outlines projects through 2040, there’s a smaller scale Transportation Improvement Program that lists projects over a four-year period. The next version runs from 2018-2021. That program is updated yearly, while the long-term plan is revised about every five years.

Work also continues on an updated bike and pedestrian section of the long range plan, which also features goals for public transit, freight, aviation and trucks.

“The long range plan lays out our vision to 2040, and you can amend that plan as you go along,” said Jim Thomas, executive director of the Macon-Bibb County Planning & Zoning Commission.

Priorities

The committee also approved budget amendments Wednesday to parts of the Jeffersonville Road widening, which is the top priority in the long range plan.

One phase of the project — expanding Jeffersonville from two to four lanes, with a continuous left-turn lane from Walnut Creek to Recreation Road — had its budget adjusted from $4.5 million to $9.3 million.

The project also includes widening Millerfield Road by two to five lanes from Jeffersonville to Bristol Drive. And the new construction estimate for expanding Jeffersonville from Emery Highway to Walnut Creek Bridge went from $1.9 million to $4.3 million. The Walnut Creek Bridge project’s cost was reduced from about $2 million to $1.76 million.

The changing costs are “a combination of an old estimate and changes that have occurred in the project over the course of the designs,” Macon-Bibb County Engineer David Fortson said.

The major interstate interchange project is also high on the list, with the first major portion costing about $77 million as part of Interstate 16 that will be widened from four to six lanes.

Other major road work would be construction of a $6 million overpass and tunnel around Sardis Church Road as part of a proposed Middle Georgia Regional Airport runway extension.

Other plans include Eisenhower Parkway safety improvements from Bloomfield Drive to C Street, as well as pedestrian improvements and new bicycle lanes along a stretch of Pierce Avenue.

Another large-scale project is the Bass Road widening, with the majority of work proposed to be finished by at least 2030. The first phase would be from Bowman Road to New Forsyth Road and cost about $24 million, according to the long range plan.

To view the Long Range Transportation Plan, visit mats2040.org/lrtp/.

This story was originally published May 3, 2017 at 12:50 PM with the headline "Planners approve next generation of transportation projects, costing nearly $900 million."