E.R. Snell, Webber Make Headway On $500M GDOT Project
By Irwin Rapoport CEG CORRESPONDENT
Crews from E.R. Snell Contractor Inc. and Webber LLC/United Infrastructure Group are working tirelessly on the Georgia Department of Transportation’s (GDOT) $500 million I-16/I-75 Interchange Improvement Project to help reduce congestion, improve safety and provide roads to handle growing communities and economic growth.
The immense project consists of widening and reconstructing I-75 from Hardeman Avenue to Pierce Avenue and I-16 from I-75 to Walnut Creek within the city of Macon and Macon-Bibb County.
The six phase safety and mobility megaproject has five active phases, with E.R. Snell handling Phase 1B ($13 million), Phase 2 and Phase 3 ($155 million); and Webber LLC/United Infrastructure Group tackling Phase 4 and Phase 5 ($231 million). Phase 6 is still in the design phase.
Work in the Macon-Bibb area is progressing rapidly as crews entered the Independence Day weekend.
For Phases 4 and 5, from I-16 westbound/I-75 to Walnut Creek, efforts focus on the construction of bridge substructures and superstructures for I-16 Spring Street entrance and exit ramps, a new Second Street bridge substructure, one new I-16 westbound bridge substructure and two superstructures. two new I-16 eastbound bridge substructures, two new I-16 westbound entrance ramps, and new MSE (retaining) walls along I-75 northbound and southbound and other walls throughout the project; pouring bridge deck spans and edge beams on the new I-16 eastbound bridge superstructure; and
The six phase safety and mobility megaproject has five active phases, with E.R. Snell handling Phase 1B ($13 million), Phase 2 and Phase 3 ($155 million); and Webber LLC/United Infrastructure Group tackling Phase 4 and Phase 5 ($231 million).
Momentum Builds for Savannah’s I-16
Richard Shinhoster has long believed Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Savannah, Ga., will be reborn.
Decades after he closed his first business on the western edge of the Georgia coastal city’s National Historic Landmark District, he returned to the same building with optimism in the early 2000s.
Now with a push from local elected officials and long-awaited federal support, Shinhoster and others hope the city will be able to remove a literal barrier to revitalizing the neighborhood.
“Some revitalization has already taken place in spurts for a few years,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “However, the flyover always was an area of demarcation.”
The flyover in question is part of the elevated terminus of Interstate 16, completed in the late 1960s to connect Savannah to Macon. Drivers enter the highway via a ramp on MLK Jr. Boulevard and exit onto Montgomery Street in the heart of the historic district.
While much of downtown has flourished in recent years, neighborhoods near the fly-
over have lagged, the Atlanta news source noted June 25. That includes west Savannah, which once was the center of the city’s Black business community, and where Shinhoster grew up and established a shop.
He has another personal connection to the flyover as it is officially named the Earl T. Shinhoster Interchange in memory of his brother, a civil rights leader who died in 2000.
Still, the local business owner, along with other area residents, want it gone.
Discussions about removing the flyover,
restoring the parts of the street grid it disrupted, and redeveloping the land date back to at least the 1990s.
Those calls increased after the city overhauled another nearby highway interchange as part of the creation of the Canal District, an area surrounding the newly opened Enmarket Arena. That revamped interchange provides easy access to Savannah’s sports and entertainment venue to the west and the Historic District to the east, making the flyover less necessary.
page 6
Crews Complete Superstructure for Two New I-75 Bridges
installing pipe and other drainage structures throughout the project area.
For Phase 2 and 3, from Hardeman Avenue to I-16 eastbound, crews continue the construction of the Riverside Bridge approaches, roadway and lighting; Walnut Street bridge, lighting and guardrail over I-75; concrete sound and visual walls along I-75 northbound and southbound; and MSE (retaining) walls along I-75 northbound and southbound and at other locations throughout the project. Work continues for the demolition and removal of the existing I-16 westbound and I-75 northbound and southbound bridges and the existing pavement on the left lanes of I-75 northbound from Hardeman Avenue to north of the Riverside Bridge; and the ongoing concrete paving for new I-75 northbound and southbound roadways, and new I-75 southbound ramp to new I-16 eastbound.
“With its massive scope to widen and reconstruct I-16, I75 and their interchange in Macon-Bibb, this project is being delivered in seven design and construction phases that will continue through 2030,” said Gina Snider, a GDOT public relations officer. “When complete, new CD lanes, additional interstate lanes, new interstate on-and off-ramps, upgrades to 11 bridges, new walls, upgraded drainage systems, etc. will deliver safer and improved mobility for Macon-Bibb’s local
commuters and businesses, regional travelers and commercial freight from the Georgia southern. This is an investment in the city, the Middle Georgia region and the state’s transportation system and will support Georgia’s growing freight and logistics industry.”
Snider noted that the project will improve safety by reducing weaving movements that cause vehicle crashes, separate local traffic from through traffic, enhance sight distances for drivers, improve travel efficiency for commuters and commercial/freight trucks and provide better access to and from the downtown Macon area.
“In addition to the roadway improvements,” said Snider, “this project included extensive coordination with, and investment in, the Pleasant Hill neighborhood impacted by this construction to help preserve its history and culture and to create other enhancements for the community.”
Crews recently completed the construction of the superstructure for two of the new I-75 northbound and southbound bridges.
In regards to Phase 1B, for I-16 from the 1-16/I-75 split to the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard exit, E.R. Snell is evaluating the project area for remaining work items.
Phase 1B involves the mitigation improvements to the Pleasant Hill Neighborhood on each side of the I-75 corridor.
Phase 2, expected to be completed next spring, consists of 1.02 mi. of operational improvements along I-75 NB from Hardeman Avenue to the southern limit of the I-16 Interchange. Crews are constructing the Walnut Street and Riverside Drive overpasses, shifting the I-75 northbound
exit to I-16 eastbound south of the existing location, building a new ramp to I-16 eastbound to run parallel to the I-75 northbound mainline as a new Collector-Distributor (CD) road between Hardeman Avenue and the I-16/I-75 interchange and two lanes on I-75 northbound and two lanes on the I-16 eastbound CD road, conducting operational improvements to I-75 southbound between Hardeman Avenue to just south of the I-75/I-16 interchange, relocating the exit and entrance ramps to/from I-16 along I-75 southbound, and shifting the exit to I-16 eastbound from I-75 southbound north and the entrance ramp from I-16 westbound to I-75 southbound to the south.
Phase 3, to be delivered next spring, is constructing I-75 northbound within the I-16/I-75 interchange. This work involves: operational improvements to I-75 southbound between Hardeman Avenue and the northern limit of the I75/I-16 interchange, the construction of the west-to-south CD road and bridge over the Ocmulgee River, and the start of the construction of the new I-75 southbound to I-16 ramp configuration.
Phase 4, to be completed in spring 2026, consists of nearly three of capacity and operational improvements from I-16 eastbound to Walnut Creek. These operations will see 2nd Street widened, including sidewalks, and the construction of I-16 eastbound entrance and exit ramps to/from 2nd Street, the completion of Phase 4 improvements to complete the ultimate build-out of I-16 eastbound that began in Phase 1, the construction of the remainder of the ramps and north-to-
see GDOT page 6
Crews recently completed the construction of the superstructure for two of the new I-75 northbound and southbound bridges.
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Officials Hope Demolition Revitalizes Neighborhoods
The Journal-Constitution reported that city leaders took a significant step toward the flyover’s removal in December when they approved an agreement with the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) for preliminary engineering.
In March, Georgia’s two Democratic U.S. senators, Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff, said money for the project is included in a federal infrastructure bill.
Warnock was raised at Kayton Homes, a public housing community south of the flyover.
“I grew up in Savannah, in the shadow of the I-16 flyover, and I know what removing it would mean for folks in the neighborhood,” he said in a statement.
When Warnock was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2021 “and was very supportive of this project, we thought, ’OK, this is the opportunity to see if we can get some federal assistance and federal pressure to make this happen,’” explained Ellen Harris of Ethos Preservation, who co-chairs the flyover removal coalition.
Razing the overpass will not happen overnight, though, as the planning process alone will take three to four years, according to Savannah municipal officials.
Flyover Fallout
There is currently a parking lot next to Diaspora Marketplace, the store Shinhoster
opened almost 25 years ago at the corner of MLK and Gaston streets. He said a Black movie theater was there in the days before the flyover was built. Other Black- and immigrant-owned businesses thrived in the corridor, serving a diverse customer base who lived and worked in neighborhoods like Frogtown, Currietown, CuylerBrownsville and Carver Village.
But many residents were poor and property values were low. When the government was looking to secure land for the interstate as part of midcentury urban renewal programs, residents and businesses were displaced, and the old Union Station, considered an architectural treasure, was demolished in 1963.
“I think it’s no accident that I-16 comes into the city where it does because that’s where the land was the cheapest,” said Harris. “Maybe there wasn’t an ill intention there, maybe that was just a strategic economic decision, but it certainly had the most negative effect on the most vulnerable people.”
Shinhoster said he opened a record store at MLK (then called West Broad Street) and Gaston around the time I-16 was completed, but by the early 1970s he had to close it down.
“Our business thrived for the first two to three years, and then we began to notice that the neighborhoods were changing and the people that were our customers were no
longer living within walking distance to us,” he explained a reporter from the Atlanta newspaper. “Many of the people were going out to the mall and to the southside.”
The MLK/Montgomery Street corridor was described in a 2012 Chatham CountySavannah Metropolitan Planning Commission study as a “street network that caters to high-speed automobile traffic, is hostile to pedestrians and bicyclists, and lacks connectivity in both the east-west and north-south directions.”
In addition to cutting off communities from downtown, according to the study, the flyover disrupted one of the city’s bestknown features: the historic grid pattern introduced by the Georgia colony’s founder, Gen. James Oglethorpe, in the 1700s.
The planning commission study’s conclusion recommended removing the flyover and exit ramps at MLK and Montgomery.
In 2015, an Interchange Modification Report (IMR) found that removing the flyover would improve safety and traffic flow into downtown Savannah because “more than enough Interstate access is available within this corridor,” with five nearby access points.
The Federal Highway Administration requires an IMR before changes can be made to the interstate system, but the report was not forwarded by GDOT, again stalling efforts, according to critics of the flyover.
ÊEverything Is in Alignment NowÊ
In 2021, Historic Savannah Foundation President Susan Adler explored improving the look of the city’s downtown entryways and helped broaden the removal push.
The coalition later made a presentation to the city council in early 2022, and the next year, Savannah officials completed an application for a $1.8 million grant in the federal infrastructure bill. A separate federal grant earmarks about $700,000 for engineering, the Journal-Constitution noted.
Bridget Lidy, the city’s director of planning and urban design, said the planning to remove the flyover will include conceptual design, environmental studies, public outreach and equitable redevelopment.
“It seems as though everything is in alignment now,” Lidy explained.
Earlier studies projected that removing the flyover would reclaim about 8 acres of developable land. Proponents have suggested it be used for affordable housing, business development and public space.
Shinhoster believes affordable housing is key to reestablishing a community in the corridor because “it would allow people [to] not only work in this area but live in the area, as it was when it was West Broad Street.”
He also wants green space to be part of the redevelopment — and to have it named for Earl Shinhoster, his deceased brother and civil rights leader.
Reducing Congestion, Safety Are Goals of I-75 Project
GDOT from page 4
east CD road within the main interchange, and restoring full access to Spring Street from I-16 eastbound Spring Street loop ramp will be reopened in Phase 5.
Phase 5 covers 2.7 mi. of capacity and operational improvements to I-16 WB from I-75 to Walnut Creek, which will also be delivered in spring 2026. Crews are re-opening the northbound Spring Street, eliminating the left-turn lane to I-16 westbound, and complete the ultimate build-out of the west-to-north ramp from Phase 3 through the I-16 / I-75 interchange and connect the north-to-east ramp with the work from Phase 2.
Phase 6 will cover capacity improvements to I-75 NB and SB from the I-16 Interchange to Pierce Avenue It is currently scheduled to be bid for construction contract in 2028. In the design/pre-construction phase, crews will construct a 1,600 ft. long bridge for the Norfolk Southern Railroad under I-75. and complete the construction of the I-75 corridor to the north of the I-16 / I-75 interchange.
Phase 1, I-16 Eastbound, was completed by C.W. Matthews Contracting Co. Ltd. Inc. in spring 2023. The $70 million project improved approximately 1.5 mi. of I-16 eastbound between I-75 and Coliseum Drive. CEG (All photos courtesy of Georgia Department of Transportation.)
