Commissioners approve EMAG grant and Carl Vinson project

At Tuesday’s Houston County Commissioners meeting, the board unanimously approved of a Department of Homeland Security [DHS]/Georgia Emergency Management Agency [GEMA] Grant and a Design Services Supplemental Contract for the Phase II project of Carl Vinson Parkway.

The HCMA grant that was approved by the board is for $250,000 and will be initially used for evacuation and sheltering items for statewide plans, according to Houston County Fire Chief Jimmy Williams. Williams stated that his department plans to use a portion of the grant to purchase traffic signs to direct evacuees from Savannah and/or the coast of Southeast Georgia.

“On a daily basis, we will be able to use these, so when we have road construction or big events, we can use these signs to put in areas so we don’t have to put a patrol officer there,” Williams said. “It will cut down on our manpower and operations.”

Williams said he could see the signs being used at the Georgia National Fair in Perry and the 4th of July, where they would normally have an officer that directs traffic, and instead have signs there to tell people where to go and what is going on. The signs can also be used for notifying the public of when certain roadwork will be happening in a certain area.

The Phase III project revolving around Carl Vinson Parkway (Elberta Road to Dunbar Road) will be constructed by Stantec Consulting Services, based out of Macon and the contract being at $119,095 up from $98,280. This is due to an additional $20,815 that will be used for additional design work for a traffic signal at Dunbar Road and Carl Vinson, realignment of Dunbar Road, revising curb and gutter size and additional survey work for drainage issues.

Robbie Dunbar, Director of Operations for Houston County, said that the project would start in late spring and would take 18-24 months to complete. He said that the construction project would be similar to the Feagin Mill Road project that is currently going on when it came to traffic.

“It will be a completion of the project that we began at Russell Parkway and it is built in two phases,” Dunbar said. “We went from Russell to Watson in the first phase and the next phase we went from Watson to Elberta. This will be the final and last leg of the project and Carl Vinson is a major north south street in the city of Warner Robins and Centerville.

“It will connect Dunbar, one of our most northern east-west arterial routes to Russell, which connects Robins Air Force Base and the interstate and Peach County. I think it’s a great move for transportation efficiency and improvement in Houston County.”

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