At least 25,000 vehicles drive on Walton Way near University Hospital every day.
But by the end of this month, that number will be zero.
Work crews will be closing a small section of one of Augusta's busiest roadways for about four months beginning July 27. The reason for the closure, officials said, is progress. By July 2010, St. Sebastian Way will extend over the Augusta Canal and connect drivers to Greene, Broad, Jones and Reynolds streets. The plan for the new roadway is to quickly whisk drivers from the city's medical centers to River Watch Parkway, all while avoiding downtown railroad tracks and stop lights.
Before they finish the work, though, work crews must tie in the new utility and water lines that will accompany the road in to Walton Way, according to Cissy McNure, a spokeswoman for Georgia Department of Transportation.
Steve Cassell, a Richmond County traffic engineer, said his office is concerned with the impact the closure will have on the nearby residents of Peabody Apartments -- a public housing building for the elderly -- who rely heavily on Augusta Public Transit service. Mr. Cassell said they are still finalizing detour plans with public transit officials but said the residents will still have access to bus service.
"Bus service will serve those areas in the same manner it does now," Mr. Cassell said.
Motorists will be directed around the closure using a series of detours on 15th, Greene and 13th streets.
Crews are anticipating having to close a portion of 15th Street from Broad Street to Calhoun Expressway, but the date for the closure has yet to be finalized.
The entire St. Sebastian project is about 50 percent complete.
Reach Adam Folk at (706) 823-3339 or adam.folk@augustachronicle.com.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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What a boondoggle..if you look at the path of the road it crosses and stops at all the intersections that 13th or 15th do now!!
Can you say clusterf.
Yeah, like our current "progress." At least the construction company heads keep jobs.
Oh, boy. Won't this be fun!
This road makes about as much sense as the elevated portion of JC Calhoun EXPY.. that barely anyone uses.
hill guy and the others in this forum have this boondoggle pegged DEAD ON!! the JC expressway ruined the beautiful symmetry that Oglethorpe had carefully laid out (as he did in savannah) & it was a precursor to the decay of Harrisburg.. how the Allen park trust was broken to put up government housing and the other blighted buildings in a once beautiful part of augusta is another black eye for planners from 40 years ago..opening then "murray road" sooner (which would have required foresight and articulate planning - RARELY IF EVER DEMONSTRATED BY CITY PLANNERS) would have negated the need for that piece of eyesore...this roadway is going to be an ugly intrusive monster that will TOTALLY DETRACT from the beauty of the canal the old mill and the Butt bridge...but it will make augusta "look more like atlanta" which is what these pathetic near sighted planners & those who broker & sell real estate (passing paper from 1 to another b/c they can't learn a productive trade) have been lusting after for my 50 years of observing..Colleges with urban planning schools send their students to augusta to see HOW TO RUIN A CITY by improper planning & to see first hand what Urban blight is...
I agree with LCC. The road is not needed and will visually detract from the canal area. I would love to see the JCC demolished.. maybe turn the non elevated portion into a greenway.. but demolish the elevated portion.. it's especially awful how it blocks the view of Sacred heart. This St Sebastion monstrosity is a BIG mistake for downtown.
RE: "those who broker & sell real estate (passing paper from 1 to another b/c they can't learn a productive trade)" I don't know anything about this project, but I have no doubt that it will be an atrocity -- another festering sore on the already pockmarked face of Augusta. In any event, LCC0256 is on the mark with respect to the characterization of real estate leaches. They are worse than the lawyer class in terms of being non-productive members of society. Real estate is already, by far, the most tax-advantaged asset. Yet, the real estate gang of thieves always wants more. Recent evidence is the desperate attempt by them to get South Carolina politicians to remove the "point of sale" provision from SC reassessment laws. This would drive county governments farther over the financial cliff. The real estate goons don't care. They are a bloodthirsty lot, and enough is never enough for them.
i don't give a dam what they do to the roads.as long as they don't pump any more of that nasty canal water in to our water supply. it smelt like swamp water coming out of pipes.it was nothing but filthy water,and they just blew it off.just like they alway's do.we all got tricked f---k.