Concord Road Project Still On Schedule for September Start

According to Smyrna’s City Engineer, the Concord Road Improvement Project is still on schedule to begin in September, though it may be some time before there’s a noticeable difference in the roadway.

City Engineer Keith Williams said Smyrna City Council should vote to approve a bid for the contract at its next meeting Monday, Aug. 20. If awarded, utility relocation would begin in September.

“A September start does not mean Concord Road is going to start getting ripped up in September because the first step is utility relocation,” he said. “While technically the project is started in September, the traffic is going to remain the same. What you’re going to start seeing is Georgia Power starting to install new poles in certain places. The process is a little drawn out and a little bit out of our control, but we try to push it as much as we can.”

Williams said Georgia Power will first install new poles further from the existing roadway to accommodate the wider road. Then new lines will be installed to the new poles, power will be tranferred to the new lines then the old poles and lines will come down.

Once Georgia Power has completed the process Charter Communications and AT&T will do the same thing with their utilities, Williams said.

Concord Road actually has a pair of projects set to be completed with monies used from the 1-cent 2005 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax and the 2011 SPLOST. From the older SPLOST, $3,335,000 has been dedicated to the Concord Road Trail/Streetscape project, which will provide a multi-use trail on the north side of the road between Atlanta Road and South Cobb Drive; and $5,280,000 for the widening of Concord Road to include turning lanes and median between Spring Road and South Cobb.

The City of Smyrna’s website and one provided by the county outline this info and amounts used to cover the full design and most of the Right of Way acquisition. Funding from the 2005 SPLOST does not cover construction of the project as that funding, $11,755,00, is to come from 2011 SPLOST money.

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