U.S. Highway 27 widening creates four-lane corridor from Indiana to Florida

CUTHBERT — The recent completion of the widening of a 9.13-mile section of U.S. Highway 27 in Randolph County also finished the construction of a four-lane traffic artery extending from Indiana to Florida, Georgia Department of Transportation officials said.

The $31.7 million project was the first to be completed and fully funded through the state’s Transportation Investment Act. Randolph County is in the River Valley District, one of the three transportation districts in the state that approved referendums establishing a regional special-purpose 1 percent sales tax for transportation improvements.

The project, which took three years to finish once it was started, was three decades in the making. Until passage of the TIA, funding for widening the section of U.S. 27, which also is Georgia Highway 1, wasn’t available. The stretch of roadway is from the Cuthbert bypass to County Road 153 south of town and includes two bridges crossing the Southwestern Railroad.

“It was just sitting there on the shelf, pretty much ready to go, and we were starting to think that we’d just never get it done,” Randolph County Commission Chair Jimmy Bradley said. “When TIA came, we thought, ‘Finally, here’s our chance to make this happen’ and our folks were happy to put their own pennies on the line to push this forward.”

Bradley and other county officials say they are hoping the completion of the project, which got under way in September 2013, will have an added benefit of bringing more visitors to the community by providing a more scenic, less stressful alternative to the heavily traveled Interstate 75 corridor. Bradley said there are indications that is already starting to happen.

“We are already seeing cars cruise through town with license plates from counties all over Georgia and out of state, so the project is paying off,” he said. “It’s been great for our local businesses.”

Patricia Goodman, president of the Randolph County Chamber of Commerce, said there are hopes that the project will attract more economic and community development interest in the area.

“We’d like businesses and investors to realize that there is a lot of potential for industry development in Randolph, and that has only improved with the new logistics and transportation opportunities the U.S. 27 project will provide,” Goodman said. “With industry comes community, and we hope people will see our quality of life and decide to become residents.”

As part of a local initiative with the Highway 27 Association, Goodman said, a study was commissioned to learn what types of travelers were using the highway.

“We learned that people that were choosing (Highway) 27 were usually couples, with no young children, more often than not were traveling with dogs, and liked to take their time exploring the local communities – key information that will help us, and local businesses, accommodate visitors,” Goodman said.

The chamber is using that information to work with cities in the county to design a series of driving tours that highlights historical churches, courthouses, cemeteries and other points of interest in a part of Georgia that dates back to the 1820s.

Bradley said having a four-lane road with limited traffic lights that is surrounded by areas of rich historical significance makes hopping off the interstate an easy decision for drivers.

“If you’re heading north or south, you may as well enjoy the scenic route,” he said.