Georgia 6 March 19, 2025

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Savannah Bridge Project Supports Fast-Growing Port

Increasingly large cargo ships are prompting a need to raise the deck of the U.S. 17/State Route 404 Spur Bridge, while also considering ideas for future replacement.

By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is undertaking a substantial investment with its U.S. 17/State Route 404 Spur Bridge Major Maintenance Project, which is upgrading a key bridge spanning the Savannah River to Instagram - @iflymacron render

Rendering of the guitar-shaped terminal.

extend its lifespan, as well as allow more efficient access to the Port of Savannah.

Led by Georgia DOT’s P3 Division, this first-of-its-kind project for the state is being delivered through a Construction Management/General Contractor (CM/GC) approach. In late December 2023, the agency awarded its first-ever CM/GC contract to Kiewit Infrastructure South Co.

The project will replace the existing cables, bridge bearings and joints as part of planned maintenance for the cablestayed bridge, as well as raise the bridge profile to obtain additional vertical clearance within the shipping channel.

The bridge’s original design allowed for the replacement of the cables as a standard maintenance practice. see BRIDGE page 6

Macon Airport to Build $13.4M Guitar-Shaped Terminal Nearly $22 million worth of upgrades will soon take flight at the Middle Georgia Regional Airport in Macon, highlighted by a uniquelydesigned new terminal honoring the area’s rich musical tradition.

World famous recording artists, including Little Richard, Otis Redding, the Allman Brothers Band and Jason Aldean, have all lived in and around the city.

After conducting a three-month search in February 2025, the Macon-Bibb County

Commissioners selected Sheridan Construction in Macon to build a one-of-a-kind $13.4 million guitar-shaped terminal building at the airport, located 9 mi. south of town.

According to WMAZ-TV in Macon, County Director of Aviation Doug Faour wants the unique design of the airport terminal to start and end each traveler’s visit to the city on a “high note.”

“I’ve been involved with the airport since 2012 and the things that are happening here were

dreams … that I never thought would come true,” he told the news station. “It is a very important gateway to our community. We look at this project not just as an airport project, but a community project.”

Faour added that Middle Georgia Regional Airport is currently in the first phase of a 700-ft. runway extension that would allow bigger planes to land. When completed, the construction will end up expanding the landing strip to 7,100 ft. see TERMINAL page 6

Page 2 • March 19, 2025 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Georgia State Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide

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Page 4 • March 19, 2025 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Georgia State Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide

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Page 6 • March 19, 2025 • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • Georgia State Supplement • Construction Equipment Guide

Raising Bridge Deck Will Accomodate Larger Ships at Port BRIDGE from page 1 center of the river will be adjusted the The CM/GC team will work with most.

GDOT and the designer of record Ongoing engineering design includes (DOR), Parsons Transportation Group, calculating the incremental shortening of which was awarded the contract in each cable and the adjustment sequence August 2023 to determine the approach to prevent the overloading of any bridge to performing the required bridge maincomponent during the raising operation. tenance and cable replacements.

While the work is being performed, the The $189 million programmed investforce in the cables and the bridge’s proment covers all services for delivery, file will be carefully monitored. including project oversight, design, envi“The incremental changes will barely ronmental clearance, material acquisibe noticed while the work is being pertion and construction. Preconstruction formed,” Collins said. “It will be like services began in the first quarter of watching grass grow. After the lawn is 2024, and collaboration between the mown, the grass continues to grow and, DOR and CM/GC is ongoing as Georgia during the first few days, this growth DOT prepares for construction in early isn’t noticeable. But after a week or so, 2026.

The U.S. 17/State Route 404 Spur Bridge at the Port of Savannah will be repaired and its you can tell there has been a change.

As the construction manager, Kiewit deck raised in 2026.

Over time, the bridge will be raised and is providing preconstruction insight into motorists and, indirectly, shipping vesreplacement concept development, so that Georgia remains sels navigating under the bridge, will see the change.” the means and methods required to complete the work.

Once the project enters the construction phase, the a top state for business without compromising regional conAsked whether the construction would impact port operaCM/GC team responsibilities shift to that of a general con- nectivity.” tions, Collins said, “There are no significant impacts expectThe current cable-stay U.S. 17/SR 404 Spur Bridge ed for port operations outside of normal coordination to tractor, which entails constructing the project, providing resources to execute the work efficiently and collaborating to (Talmadge Bridge), which is 8,852 ft. long and two lanes in access some of the bridge piers.” each direction, was designed and constructed in the late resolve issues and manage stakeholder coordination.

The project is considered an interim solution: Georgia As the nation’s fastest-growing port, according to the 1980s; it opened to traffic in 1991. It handles an average of DOT has a concurrent long-term replacement effort known Georgia Port Authority, the Port of Savannah is a significant 22,000 vehicles daily, with nearly 20 percent being trucks as the U.S. 17/SR 404 Spur Bridge at Savannah River economic engine for the Savannah region, Georgia and the moving between Georgia and South Carolina.

Crossing Project in concept development. The Georgia Ports The proposed major maintenance bridge project activities Authority, a state authority, funded the 2022 Savannah River nation.

Potentially stifling future growth, however, is the port’s would raise the center portion of the bridge deck between the Crossing Feasibility Study that evaluated future, long-term accessibility for larger ships. Those ships, which are becom- expansion joints in a two-phased approach. options to replace the bridge.

Phase one will include cable replacement as the original ing increasingly common on the world’s oceans, are limited As part of the study, 27 potential alternatives in six cateby the existing 185-foot clearance of the U.S. 17/SR 404 design of the bridge considered the potential for one-by-one gories were identified and analyzed. Two alternatives — a cable replacement under traffic. The replacement cables will tunnel and a new bridge in the same location — were idenSpur Bridge.

“The Port of Savannah is the largest and fastest-growing have the ability to be shortened (or tightened) with jacks that tified as feasible for further development. single-container terminal in North America,” said Kyle accommodate the proper length and force to continue to GDOT is in the early project development and environCollins, a GDOT communications program manager. safely support the bridge. mental processes for the long-term replacement plans. The Phase Two is based on raising the bridge. Once the cables agency hosted an initial round of public comment with an ”Annually, Georgia’s deepwater ports support more than 600,000 jobs and $170 billion to the state’s economy. In have been replaced and adjusted, the CM/GC team will open house in summer 2024 and recently launched a second order for our state to remain competitive and continue to begin the process of further shortening the cables in a care- public comment period running through March 27 on the advance transportation infrastructure, the department has a fully engineered and controlled process to revise the bridge’s two proposed concept tracks.  variety of innovative mobility solutions ongoing with this profile. The cables at the north and south ends of the bridge (All photos courtesy of the Georgia Department of major maintenance project and concurrent long-term will get minimal adjustments, whereas the cables nearest the Transportation.)

Terminal, New Hangars Part of Macon Airport Project TERMINAL from page 1

More than $5 million from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and an additional $1.8 million from the Macon-Bibb County also will build more hangars, extend East Drive and replace the airport’s electrical vault.

“We look to do the electrical vault as soon as possible because we need to get that relocated,” Faour said. “We’re replacing it because it’s old. It’s a very important piece of what we do at the airport because it provides all of the airfilled lighting at night and supplies other navigational aids.”

In addition, the construction of tee-hangars (enclosed structures designed to hold aircraft in protective storage) and box hangers (built to accommodate larger planes) will meet the need for more space due to the airport’s growth.

Plans call for the new hangars to provide room for nearly

20 more airplanes, Faour said.

“We do have a waiting list of pilots (and) aircraft owners that want to bring their airplanes here, and we need room to expand and grow,” he added. “It would add a 25 percent increase in the capacity for based aircraft here.”

The airport’s continuing growth also has led the county to construct a new air traffic control tower, slated for completion late 2025, WMAZ reported.

Extending East Drive is a necessity for Faour’s team to gain access to property on the southeast end of the airport that is currently undeveloped. The extension will welcome private development of hangers for pilots looking to construct their own.

“The airport is rapidly changing,” he said. “[Macon Mayor Lester Miller] mentioned in a speech that he gave a

little over a year ago [that] when you come back to this airport in three to five years, you won’t recognize it, and he’s 100 percent accurate. We have a lot that’s happening so we’re very proud of what we’re doing.”

He told the Macon TV station that he hopes to complete the old terminal’s demolition and start construction in May 2025 on the new corporate FBO terminal, adding that all of the airport’s projects currently under way are expected to be finished in 2027.

The new airport projects will be paid for by the MaconBibb Industrial Authority Fund, which received nearly $4 million from the county’s 2018 SPLOST in January 2025.

While it does not solely rely on SPLOST funds, the county is using some of its remaining monies to build new facilities around the area before the SPLOST expires. 

Construction Equipment Guide • Georgia State Supplement • www.constructionequipmentguide.com • March 19, 2025 • Page 7

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