The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has sent letters to property owners between SR 15 and U.S. 441 south of Watkinsville telling them that survey work will begin soon for the design of a truck bypass of Watkinsville for SR 15.
Property owners are told they must allow access to the surveyors and are asked to complete a sketch showing where their septic tanks are located.
Oconee County Administrator Justin Kirouac said the county has received a copy of the GDOT letter but the county was not told to whom it was sent.
Residents along Greene Ferry Road have acknowledged receiving the letter.
Plans presented at a stakeholder meeting in June of 2023 listed two possible routes for the bypass, one along Greene Ferry Road, then crossing farmland to south of Thomas Farm Road at Old Bishop Road and then on to U.S. 441 just south of where the U.S. 441 bypass of Watkinsville begins.
The second route crosses farmland from Flat Rock Road to Colham Ferry Road and then runs through farmland to U.S. 441.
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell at the State of the County meeting on March 12 called the preliminary plans “suggestions” that are being investigated.
Daniell said that more public input will be sought in the future. Construction is scheduled to start in 2028, he said.
NOTE: On 3/24/2025 I changed the description of the route above from the original posted on 3/23/2025 reflecting additional information provided by GDOT in an email message received at 9 p.m. on 3/24/2025. The routes are presented in a map at the bottom of this post.
Funding Shifted
In November of 2021, at the request of GDOT, the local metropolitan planning organization for Oconee County, MACORTS, modified its Transportation Improvement Program to include a “Watkinsville Truck Bypass from SR 24 (U.S. 441) to SR 15.”
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| Greene Ferry Road From SR 15 3/22/2025 |
That step was necessary to allow for use of federal funds for the project, and the document listed $400,000 in federal funds and $100,000 in state funds for a “scoping” study.
The project is not included in the MACORTS FY 2024 to 2027 Transportation Program or the 2050 MACORTS Metropolitan Transportation Plan.
The program is listed in the GDOT Freight and Logistics Implementation Plan 2025, which resulted from supplemental state funding from House Bill 617, approved by the legislature a year ago.
Gov. Brian Kemp announced the initiative as a $1.5 billion “investment in transportation infrastructure around the state” in July of last year.
Republican Oconee County State House Representative Marcus Wiedower was a co-sponsor of HB 617, which requires the GDOT Director of Planning to “develop and maintain a statewide Freight and Logistics Implementation Plan (FLIP).”
Included are harbor and rail projects, but also roads and bridges. SR 15 is not part of the Designated Freight Network Corridor for the state, but U.S. 441 is.
The “Watkinsville Truck Bypass from SR 24 to SR 15" is listed in the 2025 FLIP as a “Roadway Project” with a total cost of $15 million, all of which will be funded by the state. Of that amount, $3 million is listed as previously committed.
Update: Daniell said in an email message on 4/2/2025 that the $15 million is only for the design and right of way phase of the project.
NV5, a firm based in Hollywood, Fla., announced on Dec. 23 of last year that it had been awarded a $5 million contract by GDOT “to lead” the SR 15 bypass project, providing services such as environmental studies, roadway and bridge design, and right of way acquisition.
Letter To Property Owners
The GDOT letter to property owners, dated March 13, 2025, states that “Field surveys are scheduled to begin soon in the vicinity of your property for the purpose of gathering the information necessary to design the below referenced project.”
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| 3/23/2025 |
The project is listed at the bottom of the letter as "PI 0017970, Oconee County, Watkinsville Truck Bypass from SR 24 to SR 15."
“The survey will also include the identification of streams, wetlands and open waters. Aerial drones may be used to collect survey data. Small brush, bush, or sapling cutting may be necessary to collect the field survey data,” the letter continues.
“Additionally, please provide a rough sketch (on provided paper) of the location of your septic tank in relation to your house (if you are on septic system). This will allow crews to collect the location of the septic to be added to our database,” the letter continues.
“This is voluntary and not a requirement but will be very beneficial to our survey and this project moving forward,” the letter states. “Please send the sketch back in the provided self-addressed envelope. GDOT has contracted with the Consultant firm listed below to provide professional services for this project.” NV5 Engineers is listed as the consultant.
“During the course of our work, it may be necessary for personnel to enter upon your property as provided for by Georgia Law,” the letter states, “and such entry shall not be deemed a trespass.”
“This project proposes to provide an alternate route around the city to relieve traffic congestion in downtown Watkinsville and enhance connectivity between State Route 15/ Greensboro Hwy and US 441 /US 129/ State Route 24 for truck traffic,” the letter states.
Several property owners on Greene Ferry Road have posted on Facebook that they received the letter, and I spoke with a property owner on Saturday (March 22) who said he received the letter and many of his neighbors had as well.
Daniell On Project
In his State of the County address on March 12, Daniell said “We're very, very thankful to (GDOT) Commissioner (Russell) McMurry as well as Gov. Kemp. They provided some money to do a preliminary study” of the SR 15 bypass.
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| Daniell 3/12/2025 |
“The results of that were very positive,” Daniell said, “which led the Governor to authorize money for design and right of way acquisition for this project.” In 2028 or after, he said, money will be available for construction.
“So as far as construction projects are,” Daniell continued, “this one seems to be moving pretty fast based on the impact it's going to have on the county. So right now the engineering is underway.”
“No paths been decided,” Daniell said. “In the preliminary review, they had some suggestions. Right now, they're taking a deeper dive to those suggestions.”
“There will be public meetings available to talk about the route,” he said. “You'll have an opportunity to comment on that.”
GDOT Web Searches
I did extensive searches of the GDOT web site on March 22 for the SR 15 bypass by numerous variations of the name and by project number and turned up nothing.
A search for the documents presented at the June 2023 stakeholder meeting held by GDOT on the project also did not produce anything.
Sharon Thelen, who runs the Oconee 316 Keeping Neighbors Informed web site, was able to find a requests for proposals that included the SR 15 bypass, but she also found that it had been cancelled.
The document provided no design details. It listed a notice to proceed date as March of 2025.
NOTE: GDOT Program Manager Bruce Anderson sent me this email message at 9 p.m. on 3/24/2025: "This project was originally only a 2022 scoping phase project to assess whether a truck bypass was needed at the request of the City of Watkinsville and if so, what the preferred alignment would be. We held a stakeholder meeting with local officials and GDOT personnel in June 2023. The attached was shown at that meeting. We don’t have any additional information available currently but the Department will have a Public Information Open House (PIOH) sometime later this year."
Anderson provided the PowerPoint slides from that presentation, including the map below showing Alternative 1 and Alternative 2.
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| Click To Enlarge |
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