Traffic light on U.S. Highway 82 at Acree to go live Thursday

ALBANY — A new traffic signal will go live Thursday on U.S. Highway 82 at County Line Road in Acree, Georgia Department of Transportation officials say.

The more than $3.4 million construction project got the go-ahead last November, according to the GDOT website, following nearly $500,000 in preliminary engineering and the $700,000 acquisition of right of way.

Currently, motorists on U.S. 82, which is also Georgia Highway 520, have right of way at the intersection, which can be busy. Many employees at Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany, which connects to U.S. 82 from its Fleming Road location via South County Line Road, and others commuting to jobs in Albany from the east, pass through the intersection on their way to and from work. There’s also a Baptist church located at the intersection.

Construction, being conducted by Oxford Construction Co., has been under way for several months, with new, wide right-turn lanes and a new median being installed on U.S. 82, along with new road signage. A left-turn lane has also been added to County Line Road. The speed limit in the construction zone has been reduced to 45 mph during the project.

The biggest change, however, will be the traffic signal.

DOT officials say there will not be an acclimation period in which the lights for U.S. 82 traffic would meet flashing caution lights while those traveling north or south on County Line Road would have flashing red lights at the intersection.

“There will be no warning modes,” Katina Lear, digital media and communications manager for GDOT, said Friday. “The (the signals) will be live on Sept. 22.”

The project, which was let Sept. 18, 2015, is scheduled to be completed Sept. 30, GDOT officials said.