1-16 will start work in two months time fingers cross EdenCrete will be used.
If you've ever spent some time on Interstate 16, you've probably noticed that not all sections of the road are created equal. One Central Georgia county claims to have one of the roughest stretches on I-16.
Every day, hundreds of drivers roll over Interstate 16 as they make their way through Central Georgia, and Ken Fowler is usually one of them.
"I haul the US mail from Macon to Jacksonville, Florida five days a week," said Fowler.
Fowler's not just a truck driver, though. He's chairman of Twiggs County's board of commissioners and says the stretch of I-16 that runs through his county needs work.
From Allentown to where you going into Macon, the right hand lane on the westbound side is about as rough as any road in the state of Georgia," Fowler said.
The problem is cracks and bumps in the road that can make the drive through Twiggs uncomfortable and even, according to Fowler, potentially unsafe.
"You hit this rough spot, you go to bouncing and it will throw you one way or the other, and it may even cause you to hydroplane," Fowler said.
According to Georgia Department of Transportation spokesperson Kimberly Larson, the cracks and bumps appear as roads age. The road sees occasional spot maintenance, but she estimates it's been 3 years since the state conducted a full project on the part of I-16 that runs through Twiggs, and according to her fellow GDOT spokesperson Kyle Collins, heavy traffic makes the problem worse.
"Lot of truck traffic, maybe 20 or 30 percent, even increasing every month it seems like, is those heavy trucks pounding down on that pavement," said Collins.
State Representative Bubber Epps, who represents Twiggs County, says there's an economic impact as well.
"I think, overall, 16 is a probably a lifeline for us economically trying to develop an industrial base," said Epps.
But Kyle Collins says there's good news coming to that section of the road in the form of a multimillion-dollar road resurfacing project. "We've been getting the calls, we know the folks have been frustrated, and luckily, we were able to use -- it's almost a $9 million allotment that's going to fix this area of Twiggs County."
Collins says the roadwork will start in the next 2 months and focus on fixing the biggest trouble spots on I-16 in Twiggs County, which is welcome news for Ken Fowler and his county.
"It would be a lot better on the people coming through Twiggs County, and it would be better on the local people," said Fowler.
According to Collins, GDOT crews will be working on the stretch of I-16 that runs from exit 12 to exit 24, and says he expects construction to finish by early 2019.
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