William Few extension hits another delay
An extension of William Few Parkway was expected to open last fall.
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Despite several setbacks, county officials hope the new connector to Chamblin Road will open in less than a month.
"I would love to say we'll have it open to traffic July 1," said Matt Schlachter, Construction and Maintenance Services director. "Basically, I'm trying to beat the Fourth of July fireworks out there. I want to have that project open to traffic before the big crowd comes for the Fourth of July fireworks."
The $2.3 million project will connect William Few Parkway and Chamblin Road, alleviating traffic generated by the new Grovetown High School, Georgia State Patrol post and county recycling center. A new elementary school is under construction on Baker Place Road, and plans are to build new county Health Department and Animal Services buildings on Chamblin Road.
Schlachter said construction started early last summer. Crews encountered several large boulders that had to be blasted and hauled away, and several phone lines had to be relocated.
The project originally was slated to be complete last fall, but the delays dragged it into a very wet winter, which also slowed construction, he said.
The latest delay was in finding a contractor to do "chip sealing" as required by the state Department of Transportation to prevent cracks from surfacing through the new pavement on Columbia Road.
"Nobody around here does it," Schlachter said, adding that out-of-town contractors took a long time to return quotes and are very backed up.
Because of the difficulty in finding a contractor, DOT officials agreed to an alternate process that has the same result.
"It wasn't their first choice, but it was one they could live with," Schlachter said.
A local contractor started the process this past week.
Once the sealing is done, Schlachter said crews will be busy paving and striping the road before the traffic signal can be turned on and the road opened. They'll also need to dress the shoulders.
"We're so close we can see the finish line," Schlachter said. "It's been one thing after another. But we worked through all the problems, and we're close now."