ATLANTA - State transportation officials said the widening of a busy highway between Cumming and Canton will move forward.
Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) officials said the widening of that stretch of State Route 20 is the result of the state's Transportation Funding Act of 2015.
GDOT spokeswoman Natalie Dale said one of the positives is that state funding eliminates some of the red tape that would have come with federal funding.
"We can move forward with just simply looking now at a design which widens the existing roadway, which will be in the long term more cost effective. We don't have to rebuild roads. We're just able to widen."
Federal regulations had required consideration of three route alternatives in the environmental process. Those alternatives, "caused great concern with residents and citizens," a GDOT release stated.
"We heard the community’s outcry for this crucial project and the desire for it to remain on the existing roadway," GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurry said.
The Department had started the effort to improve traffic and safety along the corridor in 2012. With state funding secured, GDOT plans to begin design work on the widening project in January . It will break the project up into six segments, to be designed concurrently.
"We get to use our state funds for what's best for our state, without the federal government having a say in it really," Dale said.
Despite the federal government being out of the picture on the project, officials said the environment will remain important.
"Georgia DOT will continue to work diligently to ensure that possible environmental impacts are avoided, minimized, and/or mitigated and to minimize property impacts," the release stated.
The design work for the widening of SR 20 between Cumming and Canton will be divided into six segments. Design for each segment will be concurrent and is scheduled to begin in January.
- I-575 to Scott Road
- Scott Road to Union Hill Road
- Union Hill Road to E. Cherokee Drive
- E. Cherokee Drive to SR 369
- SR 369 to SR 371
- SR 371 to the existing 4-lane in Cumming
source GDOT
