North bypass construction under way in Leesburg | VIDEO | PHOTO GALLERY

ALBANY — Transportation history was made in Leesburg Wednesday when construction crews began erecting an overpass crossing U.S. Highway 19 as part of the Leesburg North Bypass project.

Dozens of workers lined the sides of the highway for most of the day Wednesday as giant cranes lifted massive concrete beams into place over the northbound lanes of the highway.

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Placement of the beams over the southbound lanes will occur on Friday, completing the bridge support which has been under construction for nearly three months.

The new overpass is the first of its kind in either Leesburg or Lee County and is part of the larger project to help eliminate traffic through downtown Leesburg.

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Leesburg City Manager Bob Alexander said the bypass project, which has been in development for more than 10 years, consists of a 1.7 mile stretch of highway that will help reroute traffic between State Route 195 over to U.S. Highway 19.

“This project is very important to Leesburg and Lee County,” said Alexander. “We wanted to have an east/west route so that we could disperse traffic in the downtown area. We also wanted to alleviate school traffic and provide safer passage going to and from our schools.”

Alexander said that in addition to being a much needed project from a functionality standpoint, it was also a boon for the local community because the $8 million project is being funded through state and federal dollars.

Oxford Construction Company is serving as the primary contractor for the bypass project and Southern Concrete is handling the overpass.

The overpass bridge itself, which will cross the Norfolk-Southern railroad in addition to the highway, will be approximately 300 feet long and 40 feet wide.

The section that was erected Wednesday consisted of six concrete beams weighing 43,943 pounds each and measuring 147 feet in length and just over six feet in height.

“It’s a huge undertaking,” said Alexander.

According to Dewayne Fulton, a project engineer with the Georgia Department of Transportation, which is overseeing the project, building the bridge took considerable planning before construction could be begin. Fulton said it took crews about a two and a half months just to lay the foundation of the bridge.

“The bridge is one of the most important things,” said Fulton. “You have to make absolutely sure everything is just perfect.”

Once the overpass is completed, construction crews will turn their attention to the rest of the bypass, which is currently on schedule to be completed by the end of the year.