MOULTRIE - Department of Transportation Commissioner Tom Coleman announced Tuesday that the $185 million widening project of Georgia Hwy. 133 is beginning. <br>
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From Albany through Moultrie to Valdosta, 68 miles of road is set to be widened to a four-lane corridor within five to seven years. The earliest construction likely will begin in 2.5 to 3 years, Coleman said. <br>
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Hwy. 133 was added to the Governors Road Improvement Program (GRIP) during the 2001 legislative session. GRIP is a program to build a network of four-lane corridors around the state to encourage economic development and increase mobility. <br>
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Rep. Richard Royal said when Colquitt County lost a prospective Best Buy distribution center as a prospect because no four-lane extended south from Moultrie to I-75, it was apparent that Hwy. 133 must be bumped up on GRIP's priority list. <br>
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The state is contracting with two consultants, Wolverton & Associates and J.B. Trimble Inc., to immediately begin the preliminary engineering phase, DOT representatives said. <br>
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The DOT must evaluate the social, environmental and economic impacts of the project, Chief Engineer Frank Danchetz said. The agency weighs the amount of stores or homes that would have to be displaced against cost and determines whether any wildlife or natural areas, such as wetlands, would suffer, he said. <br>
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``In this neck of the woods, what drives us is endangered species,'' Danchetz said, offering up the gopher tortoise and indigo snake as examples.
