Development started at the Western Parallel Connector street venture close to Atlanta, geared toward bettering transportation and connectivity in Henry County. The four-lane roadway will be offering an alternative direction, scale back congestion, make stronger protection, spice up financial building, and give protection to residential spaces. Of completion is anticipated through December 2027.
Development of the highly-anticipated Western Parallel Connector in Henry County, Ga., at the southeast fringe of Atlanta, were given underneath method not too long ago with the beginning of land clearing actions, county officers mentioned in a Nov. 7 information unencumber.
The connector is a brand new roadway venture designed to make stronger transportation and give a boost to connectivity within the rising municipality. Led through the Georgia Division of Transportation (GDOT), in collaboration with the Henry County Executive, the main infrastructure effort will someday alleviate congestion, streamline visitors drift and supply a important choice direction for citizens, companies and guests alike, native officers mentioned.
When open for passenger automobile trip in two years, it is going to lift visitors via an unincorporated a part of the county and thru a portion of town of Stockbridge alongside the west facet of Interstate 75 from Jonesboro Highway to Hudson Bridge Highway, a distance of roughly 3.3 mi.
Development actions will happen on the present four-way intersection of Jonesboro Highway and Mount Olive Highway and continue north at the present alignment roughly 1,600 feet. sooner than proceeding on a brand new location and finishing on the present intersection of Hudson Bridge Highway.
The brand new roadway will consist of 4 lanes (two in each and every path) separated through an 18-ft.-wide raised median.
Henry County Has Prime Expectancies for New Highway
When whole, the Western Parallel Connector will function a very important hall for linking communities and providing stepped forward get right of entry to to companies, colleges and leisure amenities. With the area’s contemporary inhabitants surge, Henry County officers known the desire for modernized infrastructure to give a boost to expanding trip calls for and scale back bottlenecks alongside present roadways.
The $54 million venture used to be first conceived in 2017, atmosphere in movement the time-consuming strategy of obtaining the vital rights of method (ROW) from belongings house owners, an acquisition that used to be after all finished in past due 2023. That resulted in GDOT officers not too long ago giving the county the golf green gentle to continue with clearing previous to the Connector’s building.
In keeping with Bert Bivens, Henry County’s assistant director of SPLOST, the county bought the suitable of method for the venture using its Normal Fund, and GDOT agreed to reimburse the county as much as $6 million against the price of the ROW acquisition.
“The release of this venture indicates crucial step ahead for Henry County’s transportation community,” mentioned Kevin J. Lewis, the county’s District V commissioner. “Via growing this new parallel direction, we are not handiest making an investment in native infrastructure but in addition within the day by day lives of our group individuals, enabling more secure and extra environment friendly trip.”
Henry County officers have 4 number one expectancies from the development of the Western Parallel Connector:
- Via offering an alternative direction, the brand new roadway will lend a hand alleviate visitors congestion on closely traveled routes, particularly all the way through top hours.
- An stepped forward roadway design and the addition of sidewalks will give a boost to and give a boost to more secure trip choices for motorists and pedestrians.
- The brand new freeway will spice up financial building through making get right of entry to more uncomplicated to Henry County’s key industrial spaces, no longer handiest through attracting new funding to the area, however through supporting present companies.
- The connector will give protection to residential spaces through serving to to reroute thru-traffic clear of properties, in addition to scale back noise and maintain group integrity.
The Western Parallel Connector is an important infrastructure venture that Henry County believes demonstrates its dedication to proactively cope with “the transportation demanding situations of nowadays whilst laying the basis for the next day’s expansion.”
The venture’s building is anticipated to be completed through December 2027, the county mentioned. Right through the construction length, county officers are running to make sure minimum disruption to citizens and vacationers and promise to offer updates at the paintings’s development.
