On Tuesday, July 16, crews from Reeves Construction started repaving nearly 2.5 miles of Columbus Road as part of Macon-Bibb’s #PavingTheWay program, an effort to repave, restripe, and fix the worst roads in the county.
“For too many years, a lack of funding meant our roads deteriorated faster than we could fix them,” said Mayor Lester Miller. “We are putting millions more into this work to begin catching up by focusing on our worst roads.”
Macon-Bibb hired RoadBotics to study every mile of county-owned roads and rated them from 1 (best) to 5 (worst) based on potholes, cracks, structural integrity, and other signs of damage and deterioration. The roads being focused on during this first round of Paving the Way are the ones rated 4 and 5.
This initiative is funded with nearly $15 million from the general fund, Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), and state Local Maintenance & Improvement Grants (LMIG). The amount allocated is nearly five times more than used in previous years.
“Crews have made significant progress on the worst roads in our county, and we continue to push forward to make sure the work is completed,” says County Manager Dr. Keith Moffett. “Based on the success of this study and focused work, we are preparing to go ahead and conduct another road study so the next list of roads can be put together.”
On Tuesday, the County Commission approved $243,000 in LMIG funding to purchase road quality scanning and analysis software to study more roads and determine which need repaving and other repairs. There are about 1,100 centerline miles of county-maintained roads in Macon-Bibb County. With so many paved roads to repair and maintain, it is crucial to public safety that those roads are evaluated and catalogued to determine which areas are in most need to repair.
Roads that have been repaved/restriped and had reflector replacement include:
- Belmont Avenue
- Atwood Circle
- Ann Place
- Atwood Drive
- Hawkins Place
- Evers Place
- Sorrell Drive and Sandy Drive
- Carriage Way area, off of Rivoli Drive, to include Saddle Run Court, Carriage lakes Court and Derby Lane.
- Forest Hill Road from Rogers Road to Wimbish Road;
- Hollingsworth Road from Mumford Road to Log Cabin Drive;
- Morgan Drive from Napier Avenue east to Austin Avenue;
- Willow Lane;
- Franklin Street Lane;
- Casablanca Drive;
- Weaver Road;
- Hubbard Road;
- Vine Street from Napier Avenue to Lawton Avenue;
- Napier Avenue where it connects to Vine Street;
- Ell Street from Houston Avenue to Chappell Street;
- Plant Street at Little Richard Penniman Boulevard;
- Hunnicut Road off of Fulton Mill Road;
- Lower Thomaston Road;
- Appling Court near Shurling Drive and Eastview Avenue;
- Dennis Court near Shurling Drive and Eastview Avenue;
- Kevin Drive from Millerfield Road to Shady Road Plaza;
- Old Clinton Road from Wood Valley Road to Ben Hill Drive; and
- Gwinnett Drive.
The County has hired C.W. Matthews, Mid-States Striping, Professional Paving Services, and Reeves Construction to handle different aspects of this project. Other roads that have had repaving, restriping, or patch work include: Jeffersonville Road, Masseyville Road, Recreation Road, Riggins Mill Road, Rogers Road, Skipper Road, 7th Street, South Walden Road, Duffey Drive, Castlegate Road, Hillcrest Avenue, Masseyville Road, Rocky Creek Road, and Lawrence Drive South.