Crowd At Regional Transportation Authority Meeting Concerned About Possible Route Of U.S. 441

The meeting on Monday night was on a technical issue involving funding for the widening of U.S. 441 and construction of a Bishop bypass, but the more than 30 people who crammed the room had a broader range of concerns.

Sherry McDuffie, planner with the Madison Athens-Clarke Oconee Regional Transportation Study (MACORTS), anticipated those concerns, and she told the group at the beginning of what was billed as a drop-in session that she didn’t have information on the future route or other matters.

When she threw the meeting open for questions, the topic quickly turned to routes, with several farmers around Bishop saying that surveyors had been on their property, without forewarning, leaving behind in some occasions stakes with tape on them.

But many of those present also were concerned with the narrow issue of whether the project should go forward with state funding from the newly imposed state fuel tax and hotel tax increases to fund state transportation projects or continue to rely on a mixture of state and federal funding.

McDuffie said the process would be slower and more costly if federal funds were used, but she also told a questioner that the federal process would do more to protect properties in the area.

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

Pictured: Attendees at the meeting.