{"id":1563,"date":"2011-08-31T13:38:29","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T17:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/50-increase-for-old-us-41-north-widening-now-12-million-t-splost.html"},"modified":"2011-08-31T13:38:29","modified_gmt":"2011-08-31T17:38:29","slug":"50-increase-for-old-us-41-north-widening-now-12-million-t-splost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/50-increase-for-old-us-41-north-widening-now-12-million-t-splost.html","title":{"rendered":"50% increase for Old US 41 North widening: now $12 million T-SPLOST"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/a>\nIn addition to the Draft Constrained List for T-SPLOST\n\ndraft constrained list of T-SPLOST projects<\/a>, which doesn’t even include dollar estimates,\nthis\n\nlonger report<\/a>\ncontains details for each project.\nAnd the cost to widen Old US 41 North from North Valdosta Road to\nUnion Road has gone up from\n\nthe previous estimate in June of\n$8 million<\/a> to $12 million in August, for a 50% increase!\nI wonder if the County Commissioners know about this rapid cost inflation.\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>Previous<\/th>Current<\/th>Difference<\/th>Increase%<\/th><\/tr>\n
PE<\/td>\n$650,000<\/td>\n$800,000<\/td>\n$150,000<\/td>\n23%<\/td><\/tr>\n
ROW<\/td>\n$850,000<\/td>\n$1,200,000<\/td>\n$350,000<\/td>\n41%<\/td><\/tr>\n
CST<\/td>\n$6,500,000<\/td>\n$10,000,000<\/td>\n$3,500,000<\/td>\n54%<\/td><\/tr>\n
Total<\/b><\/td>\n$8,000,000<\/td>\n$12,000,000<\/td>\n$4,000,000\n50%<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n<\/a>\nCurious how when the components went up by odd amounts,\nthe total went up by exactly 50%.\nIt’s almost like the total was increased and then the components\nwere arranged to add up to that.\n

\nAlso curious how the biggest increase, percentage (54%)\nand total ($3,500,000) is for construction.\nI could see how Rights of Way (ROW) acquisition costs might go up\nbecause people might not want this boondoggle in their front yards,\nbut why was it so hard to estimate construction costs the first time?\n

\nAnd curious how that construction increase is a bit more than\n\n\nthe $3 million for each of the\n\nVal Del Road<\/a>\nor \nCat Creek Road<\/a>\nprojects that were not approved.\n

\nSince costs went up by 50% from June to August, how much more cost inflation\ncan we expect before this Old US 41 North widening project is completed?\n

\nRemember, that $12,000,000 comes out of your sales taxes.\nIf it is approved.\n

\nAlso remember, the purpose of this project is to widen the road.\nThe project description claims:\n

\nThis project would benefit the public by potentially reducing the\nincidence of crashes along this roadway segment, corridor, and\/or\nintersection.\n<\/blockquote>\nThat despite research that shows that\nwider is not safer.<\/a>\nWider encourages drivers to go faster.\nSlower is safer.<\/a>\n

\nDo we really want to spend $12 million for a project whose\ncosts increase by 50% in 2 months and that it’s not clear will\nactually make anybody safer?\n

\nThe complete project description is appended,\n\n83 page report<\/a>.\n

-jsq\n

Project Sheet

<\/center>\n
\n\n
\nProject Number:<\/b><\/i>\n
\n<\/td>		\nRC11-000095\n
\n<\/td><\/tr>\n
\nProject Name:<\/b><\/i>\n
\n<\/td>		\nOld US 41 Widening from SR 7 to Union Road\n
\n<\/td><\/tr>\n
\nGDOT ID:<\/b><\/i>\n
\n<\/td>		\n \n
\n<\/td><\/tr>\n
\nProject Description:<\/b><\/i>\n
\n<\/td>		\nWiden Old US 41 to a 5-lane urban section roadway from SR 7 to Union Road.\n
\n<\/td><\/tr>\n
\nRegional Commission:<\/b><\/i>\n
\n<\/td>		\nSouthern Georgia\n
\n<\/td><\/tr>\n
\nCounty:<\/b><\/i>\n
\n<\/td>		\nLowndes County\n
\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
\nPhase<\/b><\/td>\nTotal Project Cost<\/b><\/td>\nTotal TIA Amount<\/b><\/td><\/tr>\n
\nPE<\/td>\n$800,000<\/td>\n$800,000<\/td>\n
\nROW<\/td>\n$1,200,000<\/td>\n$1,200,000<\/td>\n
\nCST<\/td>\n$10,000,000<\/td>\n$10,000,000<\/td>\n
\nTotal<\/b><\/td>\n$12,000,000<\/b><\/td>\n$12,000,000<\/b><\/td>\n<\/td><\/tr>\n
\nComments:<\/b><\/i>\n<\/td><\/tr>\n
\nOld 41 is a major collector that extends from SR 7 or North Valdosta Road to SR 122 in Hahira. At SR 122 in Hahira, Old 41 turns into SR 7 again to travel north into Cook\nCounty. Old 41 is used as a main artery for residents to travel from Hahira, North\nLowndes County, and Cook County into Lowndes County and Valdosta for school, work, and entertainment. Over the past 15 years with the installation of Lowndes County\nWater and Sewer in this area, nine residential subdivisions, a private K-12 school, and numerous commercial developments have developed throughout this corridor. Commercial development includes a restaurant, convenience stores, car dealership, numerous doctors` offices and a hospital. Lowndes County also has a fire department and solid waste collection facility located in this area. With the future plans for further development in this area both commercially and residentially, future traffic models indicate traffic counts will exceed 20,000 vehicles per day. The majority of the development has occurred in this area and the continued growth is also anticipated in this proximity. It is proposed to construct bike lanes and possibly sidewalks throughout the project for the residents of this area to use\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n\n
\nPublic Benefit<\/b>\n<\/td>\nNotes<\/b>\n<\/td><\/tr>\n
\nEnsuring Safety and Security\n<\/td>\nThis project would benefit the public by potentially reducing the incidence of crashes along this roadway segment,\ncorridor, and\/or intersection.\n
\nMaximizing the value of\nGeorgia’s Assets\n<\/td>\nThis project could potentially maximize the full utility of an existing transportation facility(s). In some cases, bypasses\nwill be necessary. Example benefits could be: mitigating congestion (e.g. operational improvements) and optimizing capital asset management (e.g. resurfacing, rehabilitation). The impacts would apply to this roadway segment, corridor, and\/or intersection.\n
\nSupporting Economic\nGrowth\/Competitiveness\n<\/td>\nThis project could assist in having a positive impact on the economic vitality for this region, and in some cases possibly\nfor the entire state. Its impact could also be observed along the roadway segment, corridor, and\/or intersection. Example benefits could be: improved access to jobs; improved travel times for drivers; increased lane capacity; improved efficiency and reliability for freight cargo\/goods movement; providing border to border and inter-regional connectivity; and improve local connectivity to statewide transportation network.\n
\nAdditional Benefits\n<\/td>\nThis project would benefit the traveling public, by mitigating congestion and enhancing safety. Future traffic counts for this area are in excess of 20,000 vehicles per day. There are currently many residential subdivisions, multiple commercial businesses, and a private K-12 school all which gain access by using Old US 41.\n<\/td><\/tr>\n<\/table>\nProject Location<\/b>\n
\n\n<\/a>\n<\/td><\/tr><\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In addition to the Draft Constrained List for T-SPLOST draft constrained list of T-SPLOST projects, which doesn’t even include dollar estimates, this longer report contains details for each project. And the cost to widen Old US 41 North from North Valdosta Road to Union Road has gone up from the previous estimate in June of […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[49,602,1177,3,449,2305],"tags":[712,28,8701,8791,3867,7,2292,8822,383,6],"class_list":["post-1563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections","category-hahira","category-t-splost","category-transparency","category-transportation","category-vlmpo","tag-boondoggle","tag-cost","tag-georgia","tag-hahira","tag-increase","tag-lowndes-county","tag-old-us-41-north","tag-t-splost","tag-taxes","tag-valdosta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-pd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}