Officials with the NCDOT hope that the construction work currently snarling traffic on Georgia Road will be complete by August 2021.
Crews have been performing major work on the highway since 2019 in an effort to alter Georgia Road from five lanes to four lanes and a median. The goal is to reduce the road’s infamously high crash rate, but some residents have been frustrated by frequently altered traffic patterns throughout the renovation process.
David Uchiyama, the NCDOT communications officer for Western North Carolina, said the project has experienced several minor delays due to conflicts with utility lines and occasional difficulties with weather, but crews are currently making good progress.
“Our contractor has encountered several unplanned utility conflicts which have impacted progress and thus extended the intended construction timeframe for this project,” Uchiyama said. “The current anticipated completion date for the project is August of 2021 provided further conflicts are not encountered.”
Uchiyama also reassured residents that the plans for the remade 2.8-mile stretch of Georgia Road would not interrupt traffic flows as they were before the project began, specifically in reference to southbound delivery trucks that need to turn left to drop off deliveries at businesses along the strip.
“Southbound delivery trucks will perform a U-turn movement at the newly constructed U-turn bulb areas and then travel northbound to the delivery destination,” Uchiyama said.
That U-turn area is under construction just south of Belden Circle and Wide Horizon Drive.
For more information on the widening of Georgia Road and other NCDOT projects being performed in Macon County, reach out to Uchiyama by calling at 828-250-3029 or emailing at duchiyama@ncdot.gov.