Wednesday, January 17, 2023–12:00 p.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Utility relocation ahead of the Second Avenue widening project is continuing and on Wednesday, members of the Rome-Floyd Metropolitan Organization’s Technical Coordinating Committee and Transportation Policy Committee got an update on the construction timeline.
According to the Georgia Department of Transportation, once the utility companies conclude the process of relocating facilities, the contractor, C.W. Matthews Contracting Company, will begin stage one of construction, which will include a northbound traffic shift to the inside lane of North Second Avenue beginning at West Third Street and extending to the Atrium Health Floyd Medical Center receiving entrance. The outside lane will be closed.
The entire project has an estimated completion date of September 29, 2026. Once finished, two lanes will run in each direction separated by a median that allows for turn lanes into the Atrium Health Floyd campus and Heritage Park. The split in the road at the intersection will be eliminated. Traffic from downtown will be directed to Martha Berry Boulevard or to turn lanes for Turner McCall or Shorter Avenue.
The cost of the project is $26.2 million project.
Meanwhile, the let date to receive bids for the much-discussed bridge replacement on Turner McCall Boulevard is January 15, 2025, according to GDOT. The project will replace the existing bridge over the Etowah River and Norfolk Southern Railroad. There will be onsite detours during the work, and no offsite detours are anticipated. Construction is expected to take around 36 months to complete.
