GROVETOWN, Ga. (WJBF) – A new interchange that Columbia County leaders have been pushing for 15 years will now become a reality.
It’ll be on I-20 at Louisville Rd. in Grovetown, which is currently just an overpass.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp is putting $1.5 million dollars in surplus funds toward the project, which is part of a bigger investment into state transportation infrastructure.
Right now the project is in the preliminary design phase, which will cost about $4 million.
“It is being handled by the state, so they did find some money to start that process and this additional one-point-five will go to helping to complete that process,” said Matt Schlachter, the Deputy County Manager for Columbia County.
The next phases are engineering, right-of-way acquisition and construction – bringing the project’s estimated total to a whopping $175 million.
“We’ve been working with the state for quite a while, we’ve been working with our Congress members, we’ve been working with our House of Representatives members, we’ve been working with state senators trying to find a funding source for this project,” Schlachter said.