Tuesday, April 1, 2015–11:15 a.m.

-David Crowder, WRGA News-

Work continues on the Second Avenue reconstruction and widening project.

Storm drain and water line work have been completed, and traffic has been shifted.

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. Traffic from downtown will be directed to Martha Berry Boulevard or to turn lanes for Turner McCall or Shorter Avenue. There will also be two left turn lanes going toward West Rome. The split in the road at the intersection has been eliminated.

“That project is about is about 25 to 30 percent done right now,” said Joe Schulman with the Georgia Department of Transportation. “It will be completed next October, so we are looking forward to that, and it’s really going to help that area once it’s done. I understand the frustration, and we appreciate the patience.”

He added that the Turner McCall Bridge project near Home Depot will not begin until after Second Avenue is completed.

“Funding will probably be available for it next year, but it won’t actually get started until fiscal year 2028,” Schulman said. “Again, that is to make sure that Second Avenue is complete.”

Schulman said the contractor will tear down one side of the bridge and rebuild those lanes. While that is happening, the bridge will be reduced to one lane in each direction. The process will be repeated for the other side.

The current cost estimate for the bridge replacement is around $26 million.

“As anyone knows, inflation and supply chain issues over the last several years have caused prices for our projects to go all over the place,” he added. “It will probably be more than that, I’m guessing, by the time we get to it. Yes, it’s going to be an expensive project. That bridge is very old, and it needs to be replaced to get it up to our standards today for bridges.”

Schulman was a guest on Tuesday’s First News with Doug Walker on WRGA.