GDOT down to 2 routes for I-75 link
State officials say they expect to unveil the proposed Rome Cartersville Development Corridor at an open house this fall.
A faster route from Floyd County to I-75 that avoids congested Cartersville is scheduled to be unveiled this fall, and construction could get underway by late 2022.
“This is a priority project. Our intention is to keep moving forward as aggressively as possible,” said Kimberly Nesbitt, assistant state program engineer for the Georgia Department of Transportation.
More than 40 elected officials and business leaders from Floyd and Bartow counties gathered in Rome on Thursday for an update on the Rome Cartersville Development Corridor project. U.S. Sen. David Perdue and Reps. Tom Graves and Barry Loudermilk also sent representatives.
Once known as the 411 Connector, the
project has been on the books in some form for more than 30 years. Rome City Commissioner Bill Collins asked why they should believe this version would be built.
The unified front presented by all the city and county governments is the primary reason, Nesbitt answered.
“This is the first time we’ve ever had a resolution in writing from everyone involved,” she said.
Collins noted that the powerful Rollins family, which stymied two previous attempts, is on board. And Joe Frank Harris Jr., president and CEO of the Cartersville-Bartow Chamber of Commerce, said federal officials have praised the cooperation as rare.
“As we hold together, it’s going to get pushed through,” Harris said.
GDOT has completed preliminary traffic and environmental impact studies on four potential routes and narrowed them down to two. They’re each about 7 to 8 miles long and would have controlled access; a limited number of entrances at major traffic nodes.
District Engineer DeWayne Comer said both would send drivers from Rome down U.S. 411, under U.S. 41 in Cartersville and then “straight to I-75” near the Anheuser Busch plant. One alternative puts the interstate access close to Cass-White Road and the other would end up between that and Tellus Science Museum at Ga. 61.
“The first halves are very similar, then one jogs north and one jogs south,” said Bryan Corazzini, the project manager.
Corazzini said the alignments they’re studying at this stage are about 600 feet wide. A football field is 360 feet long. He also said it’s early for a cost estimate,
although construction alone would likely be in the neighborhood of $75 million. The bulk of the project, 80 percent, would be federally funded.
“After the Citizens Advisory Committee meets, we’ll start rolling out what we have,” Corazzini said.
Nesbitt said GDOT engineers are preparing more detailed studies on the two remaining alignments for the U.S. Corps of Engineers. They plan to get input from the citizens group this summer and unveil the preferred route at a public open house this fall.
The projected timeline expects approval of the concept plan by late 2018, clearing the way to engineer the exact route and start buying right of way by 2020. A construction contract could be awarded by late 2022, Nesbitt said, and it will take about three years to build.
Collins said he’s feeling more hopeful after the Thursday update. A similar gathering in Cartersville late last year left the impression construction was still several decades away.
“If we can get this road built in 10 years, it will be fantastic,” he said.