There’s got to be a better way
Some of you may realize that Rome High School is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. I know that many of you Gladiators and Chieftains are beginning to feel a little old as you read that. It’s hard for me to believe, as someone who has been reporting events of the day in Rome since May of 1984, that the “new” Rome High has been around that long.
As someone once pointed out, time flies when you’re having fun. But this epistle is not about Rome High and we’re not going to romance the past of East Rome and West Rome.
Today, we’re discussing transportation, and to a slightly lesser degree, leadership.
When you realize that Rome High has been in existence for 30 years, you must also realize that what we once called the North Rome Bypass — Veterans Memorial Highway — has been around even longer.
The eastern leg of the bypass from U.S. 411 to Ga. 53 came along a few years later. A number of years later, the leg from U.S. 27 south to the Coosa River was opened. And finally the leg from the river to the Alabama Highway came along.
We’re HOPING that funding for the final two sections, from U.S. 27 to the Rockmart Highway and then from the Rockmart Highway to U.S. 411 east, will happen in our lifetime. I exaggerate a little there.
Both sections are slated to be put out to bid over the next five years.
The point, though, is that sometime more than 30 years ago, this community and some officials in Atlanta agreed that a ring around Rome was a worthwhile transportation priority.
OK, so maybe “priority” wasn’t the best choice of words there.
That’s where the leadership part of this epistle comes into play. When it comes to transportation, our leadership in Atlanta certainly has not been effective in pushing for completion of the system.
I will confess to you that I have not taken the time to research all of the cost factors related to this project, but I think even a high school dropout could point out — and be completely accurate — that had the project been given greater priority, it would have been a whole lot less expensive. (“Whole lot” is not the exact phrase I wanted to use, but this is a family newspaper)
Some of the more recent contracts let by GDOT in recent years, and I’m talking the last 15 or so, have cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 million a mile. That’s a lot of gas tax money.
Given the inflation of the last couple of years, and unfortunately I don’t see that coming down quickly, I can’t help but wonder where bids for the next two legs of the contract will come in as related to the budget that GDOT has allocated for them. If the bids are too high, they get deferred and what happens, the price tag is likely to go up.
Unless of course the C.W. Matthews, Northwest Georgia Paving, Bartow Paving and G.P.’s of the world reconsider and, out of the kindness of their hearts, decide they can live with a little less profit and reduce their bids. Of course, the other alternative is that GDOT will then value-engineer the projects to try to cut costs.
One thing I can say for sure is that they won’t cut corners when it comes to the safety of the proposed construction. For that, kudos to GDOT.
Then there is the time to complete the project that also needs to be considered. In that respect, completion of the next two legs of the bypass can be discussed in terms of many of our lifetimes.
Particularly when you look at how long it has taken to build the six-plus miles of an improved Highway 140 from Ga. 53 over to I-75. As someone who sleeps near the eastern end of that project and drives into Rome nearly seven days a week, that work has been absolutely maddening. I’ve thought about filing an open records request with GDOT on several occasions to get the specific reasons for the nearly countless extensions the contractor has been given on that project.
Early on there was an abundance of rain. That led to the discovery of some drainage issues (so I have heard) that had to be addressed. Then there was covid, and I suppose a labor issue. At any rate, it’s going to be close to, if not longer, than three years after the original competition date before that project is brought on line.
One other thought related to Highway 140. If I remember correctly, former Chattooga County Commissioner Jason Winters gave up some funding that had at one time been earmarked for a Summerville bypass in exchange for a commitment to improve Highway 140 all the way across the U.S. 27, because that would be a huge benefit for Chattooga residents who wanted to get to Atlanta. I wonder where the U.S. 27 to Ga. 53 section is on the GDOT calendar?
And I haven’t even mentioned that Rome-Cartersville Development Corridor. You remember, the one that’s been on the books close to 40 years!