Buckle your seatbelts and hang on. The next four years of the 4.5 mile-widening of Ga. 44 is going to get bumpy, as work on both sides of Lake Oconee is going to come sooner than previously scheduled.
But it will be complex, and no doubt accompanied by frustrations. And, oh yes, costs continue to rise.
The reports, questions, and discussions around the widening project dominated last week’s Eatonton-Putnam Chamber of Commerce legislative breakfast, featuring the area’s state legislative delegation.
Trey Rhodes, whose 124th state House District includes Greene and a large portion of Putnam counties, at one point mentioned a $150-million price tag to finish the project.
However, moments later that estimate was updated to $160 million by Department of Transportation District 7 Engineer Colbert Reynolds. Two weeks ago, it would have been $33.3 million a mile. With Reynolds’ updated estimates, it became $35.6 million per mile.
And that might not be the final cost estimate. Rhodes noted that only 59 of 222 affected parcels – 27 percent – of those needed for an expanded right-of-way have been settled.
“There is some pretty pricey real estate involved,” he said.
Reynolds also dropped the projected completion date back from 2028 to 2027.
“It’s not going to be fun – and leave your handguns at home,” Rhodes quipped. “Once it is done, everybody is going to be a lot safer. But for the time being, it’s downright scary.”
Geography and the lake itself may be the main attractions for the area, but they also appear to be the main culprits in the engineering problems.
One, development patterns on both sides of the lake lead not only to business demands for access to their properties but also to most traffic being local. Business clusters in both Putnam and Greene have mixtures, but the Putnam side tilts more heavily to services, while the Greene side leans more toward retail. It results in a lot of back and forth across the lake of both customers and work trucks.
Current plans reflect this phenomenon. The 4.5 miles of four-laning starts in the north at Greene County’s Carey Station Road and stops at Putnam’s Harmony Road/Old Phoenix Road intersection.
Two, the area’s road network has only three crossings of Lake Oconee, and two – U.S. 278 and I-20 – lie 10-12 miles upstream and cannot realistically be considered traffic alternatives. So, adding another half-mile causeway and bridge is the only option for crossing the lake, which amounts to a lot of fill dirt and even more dump trucks.
“We have nowhere (else) to go, no place to go,” said Reynolds.
Current plans call for a retaining wall and shoulder on the east side, with space for two lanes and a shoulder.
“It will be a challenge to keep two lanes (open) at all times. We are going to try to do more work at night so that we won’t have interruptions during the day,” said Rhodes.
The road is looking bumpier already.