Politics & Government
Oconee County Commissioners Decide Not To Wait On Citizen Committee Input On Two Daniells Bridge Road Projects
Public Works Director Emil Beshara recommended to the citizen committee that it cut back on one project and expand the other.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners plans to make a decision next Tuesday night on two projects on Daniells Bridge Road despite a recommendation of its Citizens Advisory Committee on Land Use and Transportation Planning that the county not move forward with the projects as drafted.
The BOC has before it for approval next week an agreement with the Georgia Department of Transportation for a $3.7 million widening of Daniells Bridge Road from Hog Mountain Road to Chestnut Hill Road that would use federal, state and local money.
The Citizens Advisory Committee on Land Use and Transportation Planning voted at is meeting on March 10 to remove the project from the list of state and federally-funded projects and to recommend that the work be scaled back and done locally for about $800,000.
A second agreement with GDOT is for construction of a $4.9 million extension of Daniells Bridge Road with a flyover of SR Loop 10 to connect with the stub of the Oconee Connector at Home Depot.
The Land Use Committee at its March meeting voted to greatly expand the extension and flyover project to $20 million on the recommendation of county Public Works Director Emil Beshara, who has said that the document before the BOC is not workable.
Commissioner Jim Luke last night raised questions about moving forward with the two project framework agreements with the state given the discussion by the citizen advisory committee, but Chairman Melvin Davis said he didn’t want to wait on the report of the citizen committee.
For more on this story, go to Oconee County Observations.
Pictured: Beshara at meeting.