Citizen Group Makes Case For A Route For Bishop Bypass In Southern Oconee County

About 90 people turned out on Wednesday night at the Thomas Cotton Gin on Greensboro Highway south of Watkinsville to eat a barbeque dinner and learn about the potential impact of possible routes for a bypass of U.S. 441 around Bishop.

The centerpiece of the evening's presentation was a map produced by the Georgia Department of Transportation showing two different routes for a bypass around the eastern side of Bishop.

Del Finco and Carole Ludwig, representing the citizen group Positively Oconee, argued that the more eastern route would be more disruptive to the physical and social environment of the area than the route closer to downtown Bishop.

Finco and Ludwig own farms that would be crossed by the more eastern route, and the Ludwig farm is protected by a conservation preservation easement held by the Athens Land Trust and purchased with Oconee County and federal funds.

At the end of the meeting, Bruce Anderson Jr., GDOT project manager for the widening of U.S. 441 in Oconee and Morgan counties, including the Bishop bypass, announced an Open House for 5 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 25 at the Community Center in Veterans Park to discuss the project.

For more on this story, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: GDOT Map