As one road project ends, another begins
Excluding some minor details, road construction on Baston Road where it intersects Petersburg and Washington roads is complete.
Traffic flows freely through the intersection of Old Petersburg and Baston roads. Except for a few minor details, construction is complete in that area.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
"It's not quite finished," said Vonda Everett, the District 2 communications specialist with the Georgia Department of Transportation. "They're still tying up some loose ends - cleaning up and dressing it up. A final inspection will be held soon."
The project included widening for additional lanes on Petersburg and Baston roads, resurfacing parts of Washington Road and adding a traffic signal at the intersection of Baston and Old Ferry roads.
The addition of the traffic signal, which became operational Nov. 21, was one of the final touches of the $6.6 million DOT project.
The DOT deemed the construction necessary when a 1996 study showed that 20,000 vehicles per day traveled through the Old Petersburg and Baston roads intersection. The same study estimated that traffic will increase by 15,000 vehicles per day in the next 10 to 15 years.
While the DOT project nears its end, a Columbia County-funded traffic project is just beginning.
The intersection of Evans-to-Lock and Stevens Creek roads recently received a new traffic light and will soon be undergoing a widening project.
"Right now, that is just a two-lane (road)," said Chris Bland, Columbia County traffic engineer. "We'll be adding a right-turn lane for the eastbound approach and adding left-turn lanes all the way around the intersection."
Bland said the county plans to start construction next March or April. The entire improvement will cost between $400,000 to $500,000. Bland estimates that 8,000 vehicles travel through the intersection every day and said that construction is needed to accommodate the expected bicycle traffic.
"It's kind of a unique intersection with the recently constructed Maltese (Bike) Path," Bland said. "It was an 8-feet-wide road expansion that runs around 3 miles long from Stevens Creek Elementary School on Evans-to-Lock Road up to Savannah Rapids Pavilion. As the traffic on the bike path increases, there will be an additional need for a better intersection there."