PLANNED TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS
Comprehensive Transportation Plan
Henry County, in coordination with the Cities of Stockbridge, McDonough, Locust Grove, and Hampton, developed a Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) in 2016. This CTP assessed Henry County’s existing transportation infrastructure. It estimated Henry County’s population, households, employment, and student enrollment in schools and colleges in the base year (2010) and projected their growth to the plan year (2040). Based on such projected growth over the 30-year time period, the CTP then came up with a list of transportation projects for implementation between 2016 and 2040. The planned projects are divided into four lists based on anticipated availability of funding and time frame as below:
- Short-Range Projects (2016-2021)
- Mid-Range Projects (2022-2030)
- Long-Range Projects (2031-2040)
- Unconstrained Projects (Beyond 2040, Funding Not Identified)
The Henry County Department of Transportation Planning won a grant awarded by the Association County Commissioners of Georgia Civic Affairs Foundation to hire a transportation planning intern in the summer of 2021. The intern hired was tasked with projects to make the Henry County 2016 Comprehensive Transportation Plan more accessible and easier to understand for the citizens of Henry County.
The intern created a website map showing all the projects recommended in our transportation plan. Citizens can click on individual projects on this map which open profiles of the projects in a window with key information on those projects. The intern also created a wall map that summarizes our transportation plan’s recommendations on one map for easier comprehension.
While Henry County has a transportation plan, it is a rather thick document and is not necessarily very reader friendly. Many citizens do not even know what is in their county’s transportation plan and what each transportation project in the plan is all about. With a one-page profile on every planned transportation project, a wall map summarizing an entire plan document, and a website map of transportation projects, it is our hope that the citizens of Henry County will more easily understand and be better able to access the information contained in Henry County’s transportation plan and, thus, make the transportation plan a more useful tool for implementation.
Check out our intern’s work below:
The CTP is updated approximately every five years. Henry County has undertaken an update of the CTP in May 2021 and will have it updated by June 2022.
Henry County Transportation Plan: 2022 Update
On September 1, 2020, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was released seeking bids from qualified consultants to update the County’s transportation plan. The deadline to submit proposals was October 1, 2020. Below is a link to the RFP:
Henry County Comprehensive Transportation Plan Update Request for Proposals (PDF)
In April 2021, Henry County selected Pond & Company to undertake this project. A project kick-off meeting was held on May 19, 2021.
An external project website dedicated to the development of the Henry County Transportation Plan has been launched. We plan to utilize this website to not only inform the public but also solicit your location-specific input and opinions via an interactive map. To access this external website, please click the link below:
Various strategies have been planned to engage the citizens of Henry County and solicit public input during the planning process. They include stakeholder meetings, speaking with citizens at various community events, online engagement via surveys and social media, interviewing people, asking people to draw and comment on maps, etc. On July 31, 2021, we spoke with many citizens about what transportation issues are on their minds at the annual Geranium Festival in McDonough Square:
The project team gave a presentation on the transportation plan update before the Henry County Board of Commissioners on August 3, 2021 and sought the Board’s input. Below is the presentation that was given:
• Henry County Transportation Plan Presentation, August 3, 2021
A virtual public meeting was held on October 5, 2021. We received a lot of valuable comments and suggestions from our citizens at this meeting.
Transportation Improvement Program
Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is the tool used to implement the CTP. A TIP is a short-term planning document that lists transportation projects, picked from the long-range transportation plan for implementation over the upcoming six years, with the amount of funds and sources of such funds identified. It, therefore, is not a transportation project wish list but rather a financially-constrained project list.
The TIP is a federally-required document that is prepared by the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), as the federally-designated regional transportation planning agency for the Atlanta urbanized area, in coordination with Henry County. Below is a link to the current TIP which lists Henry County projects for implementation from 2020 to 2025:
Fiscal Year 2020-2025 Transportation Improvement Program
The TIP above, however, does not list all the transportation projects that are planned to be constructed in Henry County during the above mentioned period. It is a federally-required planning document that lists only those projects that involve federal and state funds. Any project that is 100% locally funded, for example, a sidewalk construction project using Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), may not be listed in the TIP. For additional locally-funded projects, please see our SPLOST Department.
Major Transportation Projects
I-75 Commercial Vehicle Lanes Project
The I-75 Commercial Vehicle Lanes (I-75 CVL) project is part of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT)’s Major Mobility Investment Program (MMIP). The I-75 CVL project will add two truck-only lanes along I-75 in the northbound direction between the I-475 and I-75 interchange in Macon and Exit 216 at North McDonough Road/State Route 155 in McDonough. The CVLs will be separated from the general purpose (GP) lanes by concrete barriers.
The I-75 corridor is part of the designated statewide freight network and is one of the most heavily utilized freight corridors, not only in the state, but in the country. As the nation’s fourth busiest port, the Port of Savannah continues to expand with the majority of freight movements from the Port occurring along I-75 to the metro Atlanta region and points beyond. In addition to the Port of Savannah, I-75 also serves freight movements northbound from the state of Florida, which is Georgia’s top trading partner in terms of total freight tonnage. The significant freight volumes along I-75 today will only continue to increase.
The proposed truck-only lanes project is the first of its kind in the United States and will support the state’s economic competitiveness in the global marketplace through the efficient movement of freight. Separating trucks and passenger traffic by adding truck-only lanes will add capacity for commercial vehicles, improve operational efficiency through travel-time reliability and congestion reduction for both trucks and passenger vehicles, and improve safety for all along the I-75 corridor. Construction of this project is expected to begin in 2024 and end in 2028. Please see the links below for more details:
New Interchange on I-75 at Bethlehem Road
The Georgia Department of Transportation undertook the scoping of a new interchange on I-75 at Bethlehem Road in 2020. This project will build a bridge over I-75 and general purpose ramps from I-75 to/from Bethlehem Road to facilitate all movements. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2024 and completed in 2027. This project is estimated to cost around $120 million.
Western Parallel Connector
The Georgia Department of Transportation approved the design and location of a new road construction in June 2020. This new road will be called Western Parallel Connector. Western Parallel Connector will be located along the west side of I-75 from Jonesboro Road/SR 920 to Hudson Bridge Road. It will be approximately 3.3 miles long. The roadway will consist of four lanes, two in each direction, separated by an 18-foot wide raised median. The project will consist of both urban and rural typical sections. The urban shoulders will have 5-foot sidewalks on both sides of the road, and the rural shoulders will have a 5-foot sidewalk on the east side of the road only.
The Georgia Department of Transportation is acquiring right-of-way for this road. Construction is scheduled in 2023. This road project is estimated to cost over $60 million, with a combination of state and local funds.
Rock Quarry Road Widening
Rock Quarry Road is being widened from two to four lanes from north of Eagles Landing Parkway to North Henry Boulevard/US23/SR 138. Due to funding shortage, the project has been split into two phases. The first phase will widen the road from north of Eagles Landing Parkway to Banks Road, and the second phase will be from Banks Road to North Henry Boulevard. Location and design of the road widening was approved in June 2020. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is now proceeding with right-of-way acquisition. Construction is scheduled for 2023. This road project is estimated to cost $43 million.
