After an investment of more than three-quarters of a billion dollars over 25 years, the widening of I-75 in South Georgia to six lanes is complete, and all of the orange barrels should be removed next week.

Georgia Department of Transportation officials held a press conference and a ceremonial ribbon cutting Friday at the welcome station off Interstate Highway 75 in Lenox to announce the project’s completion. Elected officials and business people from the area joined state transportation board members Johnny Floyd, Jay Shaw and GDOT Commissioner Vance C. Smith Jr., as well as district engineer Joe Sheffield.

The project, which began in 1996, widened I-75 to six lanes along 105.4 miles that stretches between the Florida border and the Crisp-Dooly county line. Work to widen, surface and install the concrete barrier wall was performed in Tift, Turner, Cook, Lowndes and Crisp counties. GDOT invested a total of $775,850,724 on the I-75 improvements.

Smith said he drove to Lenox on Friday from the Cook County airport and enjoyed the smooth ride.

“This is good for local travelers, but just think about those from other states coming through,” Smith said. “We are thankful to the citizens for their patience. I think the end product you see out there will be great for our communities and for our economic development.”

I-75 is the main artery through Georgia and stretches 1,787 miles from north of Miami, Fla., to just south of the Canadian border in Michigan. More than 200,000 vehicles travel through Georgia’s larger cities daily on I-75. The South Georgia portion of I-75 through Lowndes County handles more than 44,000 vehicles daily.

The State Transportation Board determines policy and exercises general governance of the DOT. The Board’s 13 members, representing each of the state’s congressional districts, serve staggered, five-year terms. Board members are elected by those state senators and representatives whose legislative districts fall within all or part of the relevant congressional district.

Floyd, a board member from the 2nd Congressional District, said the state’s highway funding has been short. He said that 80 percent of funding comes from the federal government for such highway projects and 20 percent from the state. The current downturn in the economy has made funding situations difficult, he said.

“People are traveling less and buying more fuel-efficient cars,” Floyd said.

Floyd said a referendum will be put before voters next year to assess a one-cent, local-option sales tax for road and highway projects. If passed, he said, money raised will go to regional development centers and not to Atlanta.

“It will be spent within the RDCs so counties can present the work they want so we can keep the money local,” Floyd said.

 

To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.