‘Long time coming,’ mayor says as construction nears for east Macon road project

Construction on the Jeffersonville Road widening project is on target to start in spring 2018.

Macon-Bibb County Mayor Robert Reichert said the Georgia Department of Transportation should begin accepting construction bids in late January. The start of construction would mark the most significant milestone for a project that’s been in discussion for more than 20 years.

Construction could begin in April and be finished in the fall of 2020.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Reichert said. “It was on the road improvements list in 1994 and was delayed and pushed back, but we’re getting very close to having construction begin.”

The first phase would widen Jeffersonville Road from Emery Highway to Recreation Road. Rough stretches of Jeffersonville will also be paved, and the Walnut Creek bridge will be raised about 6 feet in order to get it out of a flood plain.

Once completed, the enhanced Jeffersonville Road will be able to better handle more traffic, and with a new sidewalk and multiuse path, safety will also be improved.

The latest roadblock for the project involved the prospect of Macon-Bibb having to spend about $1.7 million to move transmission lines near the Walnut Creek bridge. But by using a special construction method while raising the bridge, the cost should drop significantly, Reichert said.

“We have been successful in getting the Georgia Department of Transportation to bid it so we don’t have to relocate the power lines,” Reichert said. “We just have a little bit more expensive construction process to use that alternative of sliding the beams in place with the bridge over Walnut Creek instead of lifting them in place with the crane.”

In the estimated $9.3 million first phase, Jeffersonville Road will widen from two to four lanes, with a continuous left-turn lane from Walnut Creek to Recreation Road.

The second phase of Jeffersonville Road would include improvements from Recreation Road to U.S. 80. A railroad line crossing the Lakeside Reservoir Dam would also need to be moved.

The Jeffersonville project also includes widening Millerfield Road from two to five lanes from Jeffersonville to Bristol Drive.

The final project entails improvements along a 2.3-mile stretch of the highway from Emery Highway to U.S. 80.

Years of delay

Local and state officials, such as Sen. David Lucas, D-Macon, and the late Bibb County Commissioner Lonzy Edwards, advocated in the years leading up to consolidation for construction to begin as quickly as possible.

One of the reasons for the project’s setbacks? An environmental study took about six tries to complete.

But by 2016, signs appeared to point to roadwork beginning this year — until the project hit another snag.

County Commissioner Elaine Lucas had asked officials to stay persistent with a project she believed was put on the back burner at times.

But earlier this week, as Reichert announced the latest developments to commissioners, Lucas said she was grateful for the support of the mayor and other leaders to resolve the transmission line issue and happy that a finish line is in sight.

“Thank you to all of those involved for your work on that because it really does it mean a lot,” she said. “If that doesn’t take off and get done, I think people will be very disappointed.”

Macon-Bibb County Engineer David Fortson has said some of the new features will include enhanced road striping, improved pedestrian signal indicators for traffic signals, new sidewalks and better lighting along Jeffersonville Road.

Although bulldozers appear to now just be months away from maneuvering along Jeffersonville, there’s still plenty of work left before the second phase of construction begins.

Reichert said he also expects more environmental issues in that phase.

This story was originally published November 24, 2017 at 1:59 PM with the headline "‘Long time coming,’ mayor says as construction nears for east Macon road project."