DOT will resurface U.S. 78

The Georgia Department of Transportation announced Monday that a road improvement project to run through three counties has been awarded and should be finished by this time next year.

DOT awarded the $3.9 million contract to resurface and rebuild the shoulders of Gordon Highway to Reeves Construction Co.

Cissy McNure, a DOT spokeswoman, said the improvements are a regular maintenance project that will stretch 19 miles from just east of Dodge Lane inside Richmond County and through Columbia County, including Harlem. The resurfacing will follow Gordon Highway, also called U.S. 78, through Dearing, ending at the intersection with Jackson Street in Thomson.

McNure said such maintenance projects are important to "improve ride quality and structure of the roadway."

There is no set start date for the project, but it is expected to be complete by the end of 2007, McNure said.

The project includes the two miles of Gordon Highway inside Harlem city limits. John McClellan, the city engineer with G. Ben Turnipseed Engineers, said he originally hoped to coordinate the city's upcoming streetscape project, which includes the intersection of U.S. 78 and Louisville Road, and the DOT resurfacing project.

"We're not going to be able to do that," McClellan said, adding that the streetscape project to improve downtown aesthetics was awarded in November. "Hopefully, we'll be able to get our stuff finished before they come through."