Augusta Area transportation projects (Savannah, Waynesboro: home, preschool, calculation)

[therealpattman]

Originally Posted by amlovingit

They need to make Riverwatch a toll road

To answer you comment, Riverwatch won't ever be tolled due to the presence of alternative roads. Not only that but the amount of traffic on the road doesn't warrant a toll. People tend to avoid tolls unless they absolutely have to go through them, think without going through this toll I add 30 plus minutes and hassle to my commute. There are so many ways to get from Columbia County and Downtown Augusta without taking Riverwatch Pkwy. The only road I would consider tolling is the 13th Street bridge but even that would be a stretch. Riverwatch does need to be maximized by making it a freeway from Baston Rd to 15th Street but evem still folks will still use Washington Rd.

[Carolina Knight]

Originally Posted by cst8670

Wouldnt that mean that they would have to either buy every single business and house along River Watch and or provide them an alternate means of egress from their property that does not cause them to have to enter the toll road as well as they would have to build multiple bridges and or overpasses for the varies roads that currently intersect River Watch so as to bypass it?

Yes, they would. Do not forget about the Norfolk Southern rail line parallel to River Watch Parkway. Some crossings would have to be grade separated overpasses and underpasses.

I am not worried about River Watch Parkway becoming a toll roll or an expressway anytime soon. It is cost prohibitive.

[amlovingit]

What is another place in augusta a toll road will benefit the city

[therealpattman]

Originally Posted by amlovingit

What is another place in augusta a toll road will benefit the city

Maybe express toll lanes on I-20 from Horizon South Parkway to Riverwatch Parkway especially once the full Cyber explosion takes off.

[Airforceguy]

Little River Bridge expected to open Thursday | The Augusta Chronicle

[Airforceguy]

It looks like funding has finally been lined up to rebuild and widen the I-20 bridges over the river...
GDOT and SCDOT to sign resolution funding new I-20 canal and river bridges

[Airforceguy]

The completion date for the Riverwatch project has been pushed back to the end of September...
River Watch construction completion moved back | The Augusta Chronicle

[Airforceguy]

Tim Knight, a project manager for HDR construction, said the River Watch projects were “his favorite” among the many funded by the regional transportation sales tax.
“Citizens, as they travel through there, they’ve gained the most,” he said.
In 2012, voters across a 13-county region approved collecting a 1 percent tax for 10 years to fund about $728 million in road projects, in 2011 dollars. Only three areas in Georgia approved implementing the new tax.
The River Watch projects make up about $45 million paid from the tax. None are complete, and all but one, a $40 million extension of River Watch to intersect Washington Road in Evans, is in Augusta-Richmond County. Half the funding for the extension is coming from the TIA.
River Watch improvements at the Furys Ferry and Stevens Creek intersections are nearly done, Knight said. Landscaping and lighting between the nearby railroad crossing and the River Shoals Drive intersection will create a “gateway into Au*gus*ta” that will “look really nice,” he said.
Between River Shoals and 15th Street, the road has changed to two separate roads with a median, Knight said. Final surfacing will begin soon, he said.
New lighting between River Shoals and downtown that many commuters have criticized as overdone performs as planned, Knight said.
“It keeps light on the shoulders of the road” without bleeding into the night sky. “It really looks good. But the main thing is, it’s safe.”
Tony Collins, a Geor*gia Department of Trans*por*tation TIA construction manager, said the Columbia County portion – the widening of Old Petersburg Road between Baston Road and Washington Road in Evans – is 58 percent complete.
Started in 2013, its intended completion date is April of next year, Collins said.

Officials give praise to River Watch Parkway upgrades | The Augusta Chronicle

[luke2401]

On the matter of rolling Riverwatch- why would we want to toll a major arterial into Downtown Augusta when we are trying to see success with urban renewal??? It's not like we're dealing with a ton of traffic and we're having to lower traffic counts like they do in Central London. Our #1 needs to be easing the routes into Downtown and making people want to come downtown.

[Airforceguy]

It looks like the 15th street widening will be getting underway soon...

Getting underway now is a state-administered widening of 15th Street in Augusta between Government and Mil**ledgeville roads, said Eric Wilkerson, the TIA regional coordinator for the state Transportation Department.
The $21.4 million project calls for reconstructing the section of Milledgeville Road to 15th Street from five lanes to four, separated by a median, and widening the portion from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Government Road from two lanes to four with a median, according to a TIA project information sheet.
The widening portion was good news to Ozie Jones, who runs a barber shop across from T.W. Josey High School on 15th Street.
“There’s constant traffic back and forth, with ambulances and police,” said Jones, whose property won’t be affected. “It will help a lot.”
TIA Construction Mana*ger Tony Collins said Wind*sor Spring Road Phase 4 in south Augusta is 20 percent complete. The $25 million project of blended TIA and other funds is widening Wind*sor Spring Road from Willis Foreman Road to Tobacco Road from two to four lanes.
In Columbia County, the Old Petersburg Road widening project, to become the River Watch Parkway extension, is 58 percent complete, he said.
Perhaps more than most of the projects, the River Watch Parkway extension has taken a toll on residents, said Lori Greenhill about those who live along the former two-lane road. Many homeowners have seen part of their front yards purchased but not their entire homes, leaving them near what will be a busy road with a median, sidewalks and bike lanes.
“If they burn down today, they don’t meet the setback ordinance,” said Greenhill, who heads an advocacy group for homeowners affected by the construction.
The new road will help many commuters but will make it tougher for homeowners, she said.
“For people that have to commute from here to downtown, I’m sure it will be a plus for them, especially during Masters,” she said. “The downside is that all the residents will all have to go right and make a U-turn around the median.”
Other projects in the works include John C. Cal*houn Expressway, which Lad*son said was about 35 percent complete. Reloca*tion of utilities to widen Marks Church Road is about 60 percent complete. Ladson said that with two Broad Street bridge projects, at least one lane will remain open throughout construction. They and the Butt Bridge projects – for which the Augusta Canal has been drained – are about 5 percent complete, he said.

Officials tout progress of road construction projects | The Augusta Chronicle