Construction finally ends on Bemiss Road - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Construction finally ends on Bemiss Road

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August 27, 2003

Valdosta - Lowndes County motorists can breathe a sigh of relief, construction on Bemiss Road is finally complete. "Traffic is flowing right along and it's wonderful," said Kim Barber.

For the past three years, its been a tunnel of orange barrels, construction signs, and only one lane of traffic each way. "We widened the road, put in some turning lane areas, and a concrete median," said Jerry Hughes, D.O.T.

Captain Erin Dick travels up and down Bemiss each day to work at Moody Air Force Base. "It was an inconvenience, and a lot of added stress for drivers," said Dick.

She says the completed construction will have a big impact on the base. "If we were to have a recall and we all had to get out here quick, all of that construction would have caused a huge delay," said Dick. "Now we can move in and out of the base quicker, and do our jobs more efficiently."

Many motorists aren't happy with the addition of the concrete median. They say it's an inconvenience because you can only turn where there's a median cross-over. But D.O.T workers say it makes traveling much safer. "There's been a lot of rear end collisions out here and one of the cars usually ends up in the other lane and could cause a head-on collision," said Hughes. "This will prevent that from happening."

But just why did the construction take so long? "It was a really complex project and we had a high volume of traffic we had to work around," said Hughes.

Even though the construction was an inconvenience for the past three years, D.O.T. workers say the improvements will be worth the hassle. Motorists can now enjoy more convenient and safer travel.

posted at 3:50 by ashley.harper@walb.com