Georgia 8, April 21, 2021

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State’s Alabama Highway Widening Project Set for September 2021 Finish

The highway construction includes a 2.07-mi. project to widen and reconstruct Alabama Highway/Ga. 151 beginning south of Rollins Industrial Park and extending to U.S. Highway 41.

After more than 3½ years, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has announced that its widening project along Alabama Highway/GA Highway 151 in north Georgia is closing in on the final stages of completion.

Work on the project initially began in July 2017 with a projected completion date of December 2020. However, last February officials with the GDOT said that the construction timeline would be pushed back 10 months to Sept. 16, 2021.

In January of this year, agency officials reiterated that the September finish remains the GDOT’s goal.

“The project is still on track to be completed on time and at the current dollar

amount,” said Joe Schulman, communications officer of GDOT’s District 6. “We are on schedule to meet this date. However, this could change, depending on the weather.”

In addition to the project’s timeline extension, the cost of the project also increased last year.

Initially, the project was bid to Marietta, Ga.-based C.W. Matthews Construction in the spring of 2017 at a cost of $34.6 million.

“There were changes made to the construction,” Schulman said. “As a result, the new contract amount is $36,141,548.60.”

When first announced, the goal of Alabama Highway’s widening was to see MATTHEWS page 6

Gov. Kemp Announces Timeline for Reconstruction of Route 316 New reconstruction and improvement efforts along 35 mi. of Georgia State Route 316 in Gwinnett, Barrow and Oconee counties will get under way by 2025, according to Gov. Brian Kemp. The rebuild is currently projected to cost almost $829 million.

The governor made the announcement March 30 during the 2021 Georgia Transportation Summit hosted by the American Council of Engineering Companies of Georgia.

Kemp and the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) have plans in place to make a series of nine SR 316 upgrades that will remove existing intersections that rely on traffic signals, address side road stopped intersections and replace current atgrade separations with interchanges along the project route.

The need for the construction is based on both accident figures and current and future traffic congestion expected to occur in the northeast

portion of the state east of Atlanta to Athens.

According to data from an Atlanta Regional Commission study conducted in 2019, Gwinnett County will become the most populous county in the region by 2050 with 1.48 million residents, even more than the population of Fulton County, by that time. That is significant because Fulton County now encompasses 90 percent of the city of Atlanta. see REBUILD page 2

Gwinnett County photo

The new Harbins Road interchange at State Route 316 is visible in this aerial photo from late 2020. Gwinnett County has taken the lead on the intersection to interchange conversion, which is being done in partnership with the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Page 2 • April 21, 2021 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Georgia State Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide

Georgia’s ‘Studio City’…

GDOT Plans to Make Series of Nine Shuttered GM Plant SR 316 Upgrades Along 35-Mi. Stretch Set to Become TV/Film Studio, Development Gray Television, an Atlanta-based media company, has purchased Doraville, Ga.’s shuttered General Motors facility and will build its own 127-acre master-planned community with a backbone of movie and TV production facilities.

The digital media and broadcasting company operates in 57 markets across the country. Plans call for Gray to turn the former auto plant into what company heads are calling a “Studio City,” the largest blend of Hollywood/mixed-use in Georgia.

With the finalization of a deal with property developer Integral Group late in March, Gray’s initial plans would include 10 television and movie production studios, plus an e-gaming facility. In addition, a large mix of apartments, townhomes, hotel space, restaurants, retail, and corporate offices also is on the drawing board, as well as communal greenspace and water features, according to an announcement from Gray Television.

The Doraville Downtown Development Authority unanimously voted to transfer the property to Gray Television on March 29.

Talks with Doraville city officials about the project began last summer, headed by Gray CEO Hilton Howell and developer Jay Gipson of the Gipson Company.

Doraville leaders expect Gray’s plan will create thousands of jobs and a wave of investment at the massive site where Interstate 285 meets a MARTA line and Peachtree Road on Atlanta’s northside. Currently, it’s home to just a few companies, including Third Rail Studios, the Serta Simmons Bedding headquarters and Asbury Automotive.

“The City of Doraville is thrilled to partner with Gray Television on this historic development,” Doraville Mayor Joseph Geierman said in a report from Atlanta’s WSB-TV. “We have been working with Gray for months to reimagine the old General Motors plant. Together, we have developed a plan which will attract thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars of new investments. Our plan represents a huge leap into the future of our city.”

Gray envisions producing its TV projects at the new studio, but the vast amount of space available will be reserved for outside film companies to lease, said Powell in an online post.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Gray would receive up to $1.5 billion in bonds, a means to help finance construction, that Doraville’s economic development authority had previously issued to Integral.

Geierman told the newspaper that Gray is “the user that we’ve been hoping for since the [GM] plant closed back in 2008,” while other city leaders pointed to Gray’s financial health (a $2 billion market cap) as a positive sign.

Gray’s investment is expected to be the largest in Doraville since just after World War II, when the sprawling automobile factory began operations. The GM Plant opened in 1947 and operated for decades until it was shut down in 2008 as part of the automaker’s cost-cutting. Crews demolished the plant in 2015.

Phase 1 of Gray Television’s “Studio City” development could break ground as early as this summer and include a few of the studios, residences and a pavilion with green space for live music, WSB-TV reported. Filming at the site should begin in 2022 and the entire project could wrap within five years. 

Updating an intersection to an interchange, like what is planned for SR 316, typically results in a 28 percent reduction in injury-related accidents and a 27 percent reduction in non-injury crashes, according to data provided by the GDOT. REBUILD from page 1

Barrow County also made the list with a potential population increase of 45,258 by mid-century.

Several of the road projects are still in the design phases and all of them should be under construction or under contract by 2025 with expected completion dates occurring in 2028. Once they are finished, the transformation of the various sections of SR 316 will improve traffic flow conditions and reduce the number of crashes on the newly upgraded freeway-style corridor.

Updating an intersection to an interchange, like what is planned for SR 316, typically results in a 28 percent reduction in injury-related accidents and a 27 percent reduction in noninjury crashes, according to data provided by the GDOT. Additionally, with the proposed upgrades it is likely that the numbers would show a greater reduction along the SR 316 corridor due to the current traffic volume and speeds. The transportation agency’s

Several of the road projects are still in the design phases and all of them should be under construction or under contract by 2025.

current crash data shows that, on average, there have been a total of 408 property damage crashes and 151 injury accidents per year at 12 select intersection locations along SR 316 The portions of the SR 316 corridor currently being built or under consideration has more than 13 signals, side-

The rebuild is currently projected to cost almost $829 million.

stopped or right-in, right-out yield intersections and seven at-grade intersections from Hi Hope Road in Gwinnett County to the Oconee Connector in Oconee County. Each are set for improvements for safety and mobility reasons.

One section of the overall project that has been undergoing conversion to an interchange since last year can be found at Harbins Road and SR 316 near the Gwinnett County town of Dacula. There, county transportation officials are working with their counterparts in the GDOT on the more than $30 million project, but the county has taken the lead on getting the conversion done, the Gwinnett Daily Post reported in January.

In addition to the Harbins Road and Hi Hope Road conversions, other planned intersection to interchange conversions in Gwinnett, according to the newspaper, are expected to take place at Hurricane Trail, SR 8/U.S. Highway 29 and Drowning Creek Road. 

Construction Equipment Guide • Georgia State Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • April 21, 2021 • Page 3

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Atlanta, GA 404.696.7210 Birmingham, AL 205.841.6666 Madison, AL 256.350.0006 Mobile, AL 251.633.4020 Montgomery, AL 334.262.6642 Oxford, AL 256.832.5053 Tuscaloosa, AL 205.848.4147 Pensacola, FL 850.479.3004

Construction Equipment Guide • Georgia State Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • April 21, 2021 • Page 5

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Page 6 • April 21, 2021 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Georgia State Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide

Work on the Alabama Highway/Ga. Highway 151 project initially began in July 2017 with a projected completion date of December 2020. However, the construction timeline has been pushed back 10 months to Sept. 16, 2021.

The project — awarded to Marietta, Ga.-based C.W. Matthews Construction — will cost $36 million.

C.W. Matthews Leads $36M Project Toward Finish Line MATTHEWS from page 1

upgrade a roadway that would adequately serve current and future travel demands and provide the public with a safer driving environment. The improvements are being made along the primarily north-south corridor in the Catoosa County town of Ringgold, located just south of the Tennessee border.

The project is part of the Chattanooga Urban Area Transportation Study.

Overall, the highway construction includes a 2.07-mi. project to widen and reconstruct Alabama Highway/Ga. 151 beginning south of Rollins Industrial Park and extending to

U.S. Highway 41.

The expansion will convert a two-lane road to a four-lane divided highway with a 20-foot raised median to Boynton Road/Lafayette Street and a flush median to U.S. 41. The project also includes the replacement of the two bridges over I-75 and South Chickamauga Creek, and the reconstruction of the interchange of I-75 and GA 151.

As for the upcoming work between now and September, Schulman said there is still some bridge work to wrap up, as well as paving and curb and gutter work.

“Bridge 1 over I-75 for the GA 151 northbound lanes is not complete,” he reported. “The south end of the project

between Holcomb Road and I-75 has asphalt paving and the concrete median remaining. The north end between I-75 and U.S. 41/GA 3 has curb and gutter and asphalt paving left to do.”

Although some businesses and construction jobs have experienced setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Schulman said there has been little impact on the Alabama Highway/GA 151 project.

As there is paving and other work still to be finalized, he also explained that drivers should be prepared for minor lane shifts on the road in the coming months. 

New Early Head Start School to Soon Be Built in Athens Construction crews is set to begin to build an early learning center at Athens, Ga.’s West Broad Street school.

The Clarke County School District met with members of the community March 30 to get input on the building plans for the property, which will house an Early Head Start program, designed to serve children from eight weeks to three years old in families who are either at or below the poverty line.

An Early Head Start Expansion Grant was approved for the Athens school system, which will award it $4.4 million in the first 18 months of the grant period. The award will fund salaries and other costs for the operation of the program. With the monies, the program will also be able to add 112 new slots for students who qualify.

After the grant’s initial year and a half has passed, the school system will receive an additional $2.6 million for four years, for a total amount of nearly $15 million across the next five years. The entire school building project, in addition to the grant, will be funded through $10 million from the SPLOST

fund, a one percent sales tax in Clarke County.

To receive these funds, however, the West Broad Street Early Head Start facility must be completely built by March 2022.

According to the Banner-Herald, to accomplish this goal, John Gilbreath, the director of facility planning and construction, said March 30 that the work would need to begin within the next 60 to 90 days.

The West Broad Street property is now made up of a trio of historic buildings that housed Black students during the segregation era. But through adaptive reuse, one of the structures — the Minor Street Building — will be preserved and transformed into new classroom space for the Early Head Start program. The other two will be removed and replaced with new facilities, including one that will house an additional 12 classrooms.

The Minor Street building, encompassing nearly 11,000 sq. ft., also will have an activity room, media center, meeting rooms and a teacher workroom.

Local preservationists and community

Clarke County School District rendering

Proposed plan for the Early Head Start center to be located on West Broad Street.

members, including retired Georgia Department of Labor official Fred Smith Sr., advocated to keep a second historic building intact, to be restored rather than replaced.

But the two-story structure must be completely rebuilt, the Banner-Herald reported, because school officials said that utilizing it was not feasible due to Georgia law that

requires young students to remain on the ground floor.

With the construction, the new building will be 17,000 sq. ft. inside, and in addition to the dozen classrooms, it will have an administration suite and additional meeting spaces.

The property also will boast of having one outdoor classroom, two playgrounds, plus meeting space and a media center available for community use after hours.

Project officials presented seven assorted designs for the new structure during the March 30 meeting and community members were asked to select their top three options.

The results of the survey will be used to draw the final plans, according to the Banner-Herald.

“This Early Head Start Expansion Grant is providing the funding necessary to not only have more dynamic facilities but also the crucial educational programming to help support families and children academically, socially, and emotionally,” Clarke County School Superintendent Xernona Thomas told the newspaper. 

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