Traffic on Horizon South is problem
Grovetown officials would like to widen Horizon South Parkway down to Columbia Road to accommodate traffic in the area. Mayor Dennis Trudeau is planning to contact the state transportation department about the issue.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Grovetown Mayor Dennis Trudeau knows all about backed-up traffic on Horizon South Parkway.
Now, he wants to ask the Georgia Department of Transportation for a little help.
"It's getting very, very heavy," he said to Columbia County Development Authority members at its most recent meeting. "We're the only area in the county with an industrial park and a two-lane road there."
Trudeau said he is planning to contact the DOT by letter, asking to have Horizon South Parkway widened to four lanes all the way to Columbia Road. He also said he would request the parkway's bridge over Interstate 20 be expanded to four lanes.
"We certainly need that road widened," Trudeau reiterated.
Members of the county's development authority said they also have noticed the problem near John Deere Commercial Products.
"It looks like Martinez-Evans (traffic)," said Bobby Culpepper, an authority member.
Zack Daffin, the authority's executive director, said such traffic could even hinder further growth in the area.
"It could hurt our ability to actually attract large businesses,'' he said.
Meanwhile, in that area, an Augusta Technical College campus has recently had $4.6 million in state funds approved for its construction on 34 acres on Horizon South across from John Deere. The land was donated by the Columbia County Development Authority.
At their most recent meeting, authority members decided to form a transportation subcommittee to examine such issues as the proposed Horizon South widening and a median now planned for Washington Road.
The issue of concrete medians on Washington Road has taken center stage after the Transportation Department publicized plans to have one installed from the Evans area out to Lake Cumberland Drive.