Douglas County Commission Chair & Board of Commissioners Celebrate Lee Road Widening Groundbreaking Event
Douglas County Commission Chair Dr. Romona Jackson Jones and the Board of Commissioners celebrated Phase two of the Lee Road Widening Project on Wednesday, December 14th, with state and county officials on hand.
“Douglas delivers again, and I’m so ecstatic to see all the progress going on with Lee Road to help us move from good to great,” said Chairwoman Dr. Romona Jackson Jones. “Witnessing today’s progress proves collaboration with our State officials, Georgia Department of Transportation, Vice Chair Kelly G. Robinson, who chairs the Transportation Committee, and the steadfast commitment by our transportation department led by director Miguel Valentin, brings nothing but great progress for Douglas County citizens.”
In Douglas County, just under an hour west of Atlanta, the Douglas County Commission broke ground on what will be a series of road-widening projects to create an East/West connector, with an interchange at I-20 and connecting other major thoroughfares in the county, including Georgia Highway 92 and Chapel Hill Road.
The first phase will run from I-20 and the Lee Road interchange, heading northwest to Georgia Highway 92. Right-of-way acquisition has already been completed; site grading is underway. This construction phase will cost $20.8 million; right of way, design, and other pre-construction expenses will bring this road widening and improvements to just under $35 million. The second and third phases of the road widening will also eventually tie into the Connect Douglas Transit Center, which provides direct connections to Cobb County Transit (CCT) and MARTA.
This project phase will be four lanes and is expected to be completed during late 2023 or early 2024, dependent on weather conditions and utility relocation. Once completed, the new roadway will contain two lanes northbound and two lanes southbound, an updated and improved curb and gutter drainable, a variable median with a maximum width of 20 feet, a five-foot sidewalk on the west side of the roadway, and an 8-foot multi-use trail and sidewalk on the east side.
This portion of the road widening is primarily in Lithia Springs, the second and third phases will go towards Douglasville, the county seat, and when the entire project is completed, the budget will be just under $ 90 million, funded by a local SPLOST sales tax (recently re-approved by Douglas County voters), with funding support from the Georgia Department of Transportation and Congress. This project has been recommended and on the drawing boards since 2004 but has only recently been jumpstarted in the past few years and brought to fruition by the current county commission and staff.
These projects are in a series of efforts by local county elected officials to mean it when they say, Douglas Delivers!
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