DOT says road project will be extended 1 mile

A Washington Road widening project initially proposed to end at Cumberland Drive will continue a mile farther west to Kiokee Creek, a state transportation official announced Thursday.

"It's going to be a little bit of extra time and a little bit of extra funds, but we feel like it can be done," Harold Linnenkohl, the commissioner of the state Department of Transportation, said in a meeting at Savannah Rapids Pavilion.

Complaints from Wash-ington Road business owners about a raised median also were heard by the DOT, he said.

Much of the Washington Road corridor in Evans was supposed to get a raised, 6-inch high median. DOT officials have abandoned that plan in favor of a center-turn lane to Gibbs Road, where the median will begin, Linnenkohl said.

Columbia County Commission Chairman Ron Cross responded to the news with a loud "Yeah."

Originally, the DOT planned to begin the concrete median at North Belair Road extending west. Transportation officials later agreed to start the median at Fieldstone Way and then Owens Road, Cross said.

"I can't hardly express how I feel," he said. "This is the culmination of a lot of work on part of the county, the legislative delegation and a very cooperative spirit with the DOT."

In a presentation to the state transportation board, Cross said he has had positive experiences in his dealings with the DOT.

"It's kind of bad for a politician, I guess, but I don't have anything to gripe about to DOT," he said.

Linnenkohl announced that improvements proposed to the Interstate 20 and Bobby Jones Expressway interchange might occur two years early.

Using funds from the DOT's Fast Forward Program, the $85 million project could let out to bid as early as July 2006, he said.

Scheduled improvements include a flyover for northbound traffic on Bobby Jones to go west on I-20, westbound traffic on I-20 would use a flyover to go south on Bobby Jones, northbound traffic on Walton Way Extension would be able to go east on I- 20, and westbound traffic on the interstate would be able to get off at Walton Way Extension.

Linnenkohl said plans to widen I-20 to six lanes from Belair Road to River Watch Parkway also could let out to bid in July 2006.