441
59
75
GEORGIA STATE EDITION
Cornella 19
A Supplement to:
Rome 85 27
Athens 441
Atlanta
20
Madison Augusta
85
20
Griffin 1
129
Milledgeville
75
La Grange
Macon
301
185 19
16
Dublin
Swainsboro Oak Park
Columbus
Statesboro
341 441 16
Lyons Americus
October 2 2013
Dorchester
341
Cuthbert
75
Albany
84
Douglas Tifton
82
95
82
Blakely
Pearson
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.”
301
1
82
Vol. XV • No. 20
Savannah
McRae Cordele
27
27 84
Moultrie
19 319
Bainbridge
84
Valdosta Thomasville
Waycross Brunswick 82
1 441
Your Georgia Connection: Rich Olivier, Atlanta, GA • 1-800-409-1479
Light It Up: Vogtle Power Plant Illuminates Atlanta By Cindy Riley CEG CORRESPONDENT
Using one of the world’s largest cranes, construction teams near Waynesboro, Ga., are making steady progress on a $14 billion project that involves building two more nuclear units at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant. The additions of Vogtle Units 3 and 4 will reportedly create roughly 5,000 onsite construction jobs and 800 permanent jobs, and will allow the Vogtle site to generate more electricity than any other U.S. nuclear energy facility. “We are building an advanced facility that is on the leading edge of technology and safety,” said Mark Williams, spokesman of Georgia Power. “These are among the first new nuclear units being built in the United States in the past 30 years. Once complete, they will provide enough clean, reliable, safe and affordable energy to power 500,000 Georgia homes and businesses.” Vogtle sits on a 3,200-acre site along the Savannah River, in Burke County about 30 mi. (48.3 km) southeast of Augusta, Ga. The plant has large turbines and generators, a computerized control room, a chemistry lab and is connected to the electric grid through high-voltage switchyards. Containment buildings featuring thick walls of concrete and steel, house two 355-ton (322 t) reactor vessels on giant concrete slabs. The concrete structures shield the environment see VOGTLE page 6
Georgia Power Company Photo
The additions of Vogtle Units 3 and 4 will reportedly create roughly 5,000 onsite construction jobs and 800 permanent jobs, and will allow the Vogtle site to generate more electricity than any other U.S. nuclear energy facility.
Ga. Motorists Show Little Interest in $840M Toll Lanes ATLANTA (AP) Georgia motorists don’t seem to be paying much attention yet to what will be the largest highway construction project in state history. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the state is a few months away from signing a final contract for $840 million to add optional toll lanes to Interstates 75 and 575 in Cobb and Cherokee counties. The Georgia Department of Transportation Web site only received 10 public comments about the proposed bidders in July and less than 50 people attended two public information session. But officials said they expect the public to embrace the project once they learn more. Work on the reversible toll lanes is sup-
posed to start late next year and be finished by spring 2018. Lois Brett of Woodstock told the JournalConstitution she hadn’t heard about the 30 mi. (48 km) of toll lanes. “I probably wouldn’t use it unless there was a wreck and I had to because I had a screaming baby in the back seat,’’ she said while taking her two children to the library. Kennesaw State University students Jasmine Neville and Tia Mitchem said they couldn’t afford the toll lanes. “That’s my food money,’’ Neville said. The toll lanes are the state’s principal plan for alleviating congestion in the metro Atlanta area. Area voters last year rejected a penny sales tax to fund transportation proj-
ects, and officials say gas taxes aren’t enough alone to widen interstate highways without adding a toll. The area on I-75 just south of I-575 is one of the most congested in the region, carrying about 200,000 vehicles a day. When people talk about not using the future toll lanes, transportation officials point to the toll lane on I-85 from the Perimeter to Old Peachtree Road. Few people used the 16-mi. (25.7 km) stretch initially, but over time it became popular. The average cost for the trip is about $1.50, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation. The new project will have two new reversible lanes hugging the west side of I75 between I-285 and I-575. A single
reversible lane also will be added in the I-75 center median north of the I-575 interchange extending to Hickory Grove Road, and on I575 from where it branches from I-75 out to Sixes Road. A barrier will separate the lanes from the main road. Cherokee County Commission Chairman Buzz Ahrens said the project will be an economic boon to the area and help alleviate traffic that has worsened with the opening of a 90-store outlet mall off I-575. “It’s all positive,’’ Ahrens said. “The only negative to it is that it’ll take a while to get done.’’ (This story also can be found on Construction Equipment Guide’s Web site at www.constructionequipmentguide.com.)