New I-20 @ Louisville Rd. interchange in preliminary phase, some funding secured

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.

This is the first step to hopefully reducing congestion and improving traffic flow in the growing area, especially to Fort Eisenhower.

“Having this new interchange off the interstate will allow some of that traffic to avoid going through downtown Grovetown,” Schlachter said. “I’m sure Grovetown would be very excited about that as well.”

Schlachter is right about that.

“We have a lot of congestion on Robinson Avenue so I think that would probably relieve some of that traffic, which is the biggest issue we have in the city of Grovetown right now,” said Grovetown Mayor Gary Jones. “So I welcome any kind of infrastructure that will relieve that for us.”

Harlem Mayor Roxanne Whitaker agrees with the traffic aspect, but has some reservations.

“My main concern of course would be Euchee Creek Elementary, which would be less than a quarter of a mile away from that exchange. How much more traffic is that gonna put in front of an elementary school?” she said.

There isn’t a date for when the project will be completed; it depends on how soon funding can be secured. But, NewsChannel 6 will provide updates of the next steps.

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