Wednesday, Apr. 19, 2023–10:55 a.m.

-David Crowder, WRGA News-

The City of Rome has received $483,000 in Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation.

The Rome-Floyd Transportation Policy Committee got an update on city and county paving projects during their Wednesday meeting.

The latest round of LMIG funding is more than the $474,000 that the city received last year. However, due to the rising cost of materials, it will only pave about four miles of city streets, compared to six miles the year before.  Rome Public Works Director Chris Jenkins told the committee that an LMIG Safety Action Plan Grant is also available that could take care of two more miles of paving.

“It’s for roads that have a higher accident ratio,” he said. “They are providing additional funding of $200,000 to the city. It would be a 70/30 match. They would provide 70 percent and we would provide 30 percent, which would be in-kind labor. We would use our labor to satisfy that 30 percent. It’s a good grant and we are certainly going to apply for it.”

As far as streets where the money could be used for safety improvements, Riverbend Drive is at the top of the list. There have been more than 20 wrecks over the last couple of years, mostly in the curve. Some vehicles ended up overturning and landing in the parking lot of the shopping center or on the property of the Northwest Georgia Medical Clinic. The clinic itself was struck by a vehicle in May of 2021. There have been a couple of incidents where vehicles have ended up in the river.

“We’re looking at some things like repaving and some additional methods to correct those problems over there,” Jenkins added.

One method that has previously been discussed is a new high-friction surface treatment that the Georgia Department of Transportation has been using.

County paving projects underway

The transportation policy committee also heard Wednesday, that Floyd County began paving this month and the goal is to pave about 30 miles this year. Currently, the county is working on a scope to outsource work for sidewalk projects in Lindale and the Riverside community. Meanwhile, improvements on Chubb Road are almost 90 percent complete and should be completed by June. In addition, planning is currently underway for a bridge replacement at Big Texas Valley Road near Huffaker Road.