City of Stonecrest launches first repaving projects

By Sarita Mason | OCG News Intern

The City of Stonecrest has begun repaving 18 of its worst streets in the city’s first round of infrastructure repairs.  City officials and project managers for Blount Construction Company, Inc. held a ribbon- cutting ceremony on May 14 on Leverett Drive in the Amherst Forest community, where construction crews were out early that morning.

Mayor Jason Lary said he was excited for the city to finally get rolling on the project. He said the project addresses improvements residents have been requesting for months, some of them citing dangerous potholes in communities and main arteries in the city.

“It’s been a long time coming. There have been promises made and now there are promises kept,” said Lary.

The $2 million roads project is being funded with Special Local Option Sales Tax funds (SPLOST) and a Local Maintenance Improvement Grant (LMIG). LMIG contributed $500,000, with the rest coming from the Special Local Option Sales Tax funds (SPLOST).

Blount Construction will pave a two-lane portion of Turner Hill Road, from Rockland Road to the Bojangles restaurant entrance, city officials said. The mayor said the entire road would be dug up and repaved.

“This is the start of building a whole new Stonecrest,” said Lary. “The city plans to pave a new street every day until about the end of the summer.”

The mayor said a laser analysis of every road in the city has been done to determine which streets would be repaired in the first phase. He said eventually every street that needs repair would be fixed. Lary said it also was important for the work to begin in spring in order to get as many streets as possible repaved before cold weather returns.

Blount project managers said construction crews planned to mill three inches of asphalt and pour three inches of new asphalt to provide motorists with a new, smoother ride on Leverett Drive. The work was scheduled for completion on the same day it began.

“We’ll be able to complete repairs on some of the streets the same day. Residents will leave for work in the morning and when they return, they’ll have a new street,” the project manager said.