Henry County is now advertising construction bids for a new traffic signal at East Lake Road and Airline Road. Construction bids close in mid-September. The intersection improvement has been requested by residents for many years.
East Lake Road at Airline Signal
Henry County began advertising construction bids on Tuesday, August 27, for the new traffic signal. Interested contractors have until Wednesday, September 18, to submit their bids. The board of commissioners may consider approving a contract award as soon as October.
After the contract award and work starts, the contractor will have sixty days to finish it. If the board approves a contract in October, then the new signal could be active before the end of the year. Otherwise, expect it in early 2025.
The temporary signal should improve traffic flow. The county considers the signal to be temporary because the project will not build turn lanes onto the existing intersection. Henry County also installed a temporary signal at East Lake and Elliott. There are future plans to widen East Lake Road; that project will improve both intersections.
SPLOST V & SPLOST VI
The intersection, East Lake Road at Airline Road, was arguably the most-requested project in SPLOST V. The project list was developed in 2018–2019. At the time, residents often brought up the intersection in online discussions and at SPLOST meetings before the November 2019 referendum. Following the SPLOST passing, Henry County hired a design engineer in December 2020. The engineer was tasked to look at the following:
- East Lake Road widening, between SR 155 and SR 20, and
- Intersection improvements at East Lake and Airline, East Lake at Rowan Drive, and East Lake at Airline.
Among the four projects above, only East Lake at Airline had sufficient funding in SPLOST V to pay for construction. It had a budget of $2.5 million. At least, that was the plan. Rising construction costs, and the cost to relocate underground utilities have delayed the project. Instead, the temporary signal will now provide an interim improvement.
The future East Lake Road widening project will upgrade both East Lake at Elliott, and East Lake at Airline. Earlier this year, Henry County offered a glimpse what that project may look like. Their concept had a roundabout at Elliott Road, and traffic signal at Airline Road.
The county’s upcoming SPLOST VI referendum has design-only funding for the East Lake Road widening. Voters will consider SPLOST VI on the November ballot. Right of way and construction funding would follow at a later date.
Featured image shows the East Lake Road at Airline Road intersection. Google photo.
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