The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) has acquired, by purchase or condemnation, all of the rights of way needed for construction of the interchange of the Oconee Connector and SR 316, according to an analysis of county property records and published GDOT plans for the project.
It has acquired the sole property to be displaced by the flyover of SR 316 by Virgil Langford Road and all but two of the required rights of way.
GDOT has not acquired the sole property to be displaced in construction of the Jimmy Daniell Road interchange with SR 316 and has acquired only eight of the 18 rights of way needed, according to county property tax records.
Construction is scheduled to begin later this year on this bundle of three interchange projects, with initial work on the Virgil Langford Road flyover. Construction of the bundle is expected to continue through 2028.
At the other end of the county, GDOT has purchased two key properties that are to be displaced for a full interchange of Dials Mill Extension with SR 316, but two more remain to be purchased, and rights of way have been acquired for only three of the 10 needed properties.
Two of those properties for which rights of way are needed are owned by Andersen-Wells II LLC, which has filed suit against GDOT, asking the Oconee County Superior Court to force GDOT to abandon its plans for creating the interchange at Dials Mill Extension.
Anderson-Wells wants GDOT to move the interchange to Dials Mill Road, where it had been proposed back in 2022, and to compensate Anderson-Wells for the loss of value for development of its land at the Dials Mill Road intersection.
Construction of the Dials Mill Extension interchange now is scheduled to begin in 2026.
Oconee Connector Interchange
GDOT in November of last year awarded a $139.4 million contact with Archer Western Construction LLC and Heath & Lineback Engineering Inc. for reconstruction of the SR 316 interchanges with the Oconee Connector, Virgil Langford Road, and Jimmy Daniell Road,
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| Screen Shot Transforming SR 316 Web Site |
The GDOT Transforming SR 316 web site now lists the projects as under construction.
GDOT held much of the land needed for the Connector Interchange from the original construction of SR 316 and required 13 additional small rights of way, 10 of which it acquired via purchase, according to county tax records.
Not all of these rights of way are shown on the June 2022 layout, the most recent GDOT has released for the project.
GDOT filed suit in Oconee County Superior Court in February for rights of way on two parcels owned by Pinnacle Bank on the southwest corner of Virgil Langford Road and the Connector.
Pinnacle, based in Elberton but with a branch on Epps Bridge Parkway, rezoned the property on the Connector and Virgil Langford Road in 2016 but never built on the site.
GDOT filed a condemnation suit against Deferred Tax LLC in January for right of way from a parcel it holds fronting on the Connector.
Orders granting the rights of way on the Pinnacle and Deferred Tax properties have been filed in Oconee County Superior Court.
Virgil Langford Road Interchange
The Virgil Langford Road interchange also requires rights of way from the same parcel owned by Deferred Tax, which stretches from the Connector to Virgil Langford Road.
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| Displaced Dental Office |
GDOT filed a separate condemnation suit in January against Deferred Tax for the needed right of way on Virgil Langford Road. The Court approved the petition in early February.
In March, GDOT acquired the dental office or Dr. Brent Nail on the south side of Virgil Langford Road at SR 316. The office remains open at present.
Tax records show GDOT having acquired rights of way from four other properties and still needing rights of way, based on the 2022 design, of two small parcels owned by Oconee Medical Properties.
Oconee County Commission Chair John Daniell, in his State of the County address in March, said that GDOT plans to begin work on the bundle with the Virgil Langford Road interchange.
Daniell also said that GDOT is considering closing the Oconee Connector interchange for 45 days during construction, contrary to earlier statements that the intersection would remain open while it was being rebuilt.
Jimmy Daniell Interchange
The Jimmy Daniell Road interchange design with SR 316 is the most complex of the three in the bundle, with 19 properties impacted.
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| Center Of Jimmy Daniell Road Plan |
The 2022 map of the interchange shows two properties fronting on the east side of Jimmy Daniell Road north of SR 316 as being impacted by the construction. Both are owned Roger Boswell, with one listed as displaced and the other shown as requiring right of way.
GDOT has acquired neither, according to county tax records.
GDOT has filed condemnation suits against two home owners on Saint Andrews Drive east of Jimmy Daniell Road whose properties back up on SR 316. Court orders provided GDOT the rights of way for those properties in November of last year and March of this year.
Two other home owners, one on Saint Andrews Drive and two on Millers Lake Drive, have settled with GDOT and surrendered rights of way.
GDOT has acquired rights of way from three other land owners, two on Jimmy Daniell Road north of SR 316 and one south of SR 316 with a Jones Road address.
GDOT will need right of way along the north of SR 316 from Westminster Presbyterian Homes, Inc., of Quitman, which in January purchased 30.8 acres from The Fairways at 316 Incorporated. That acreage was zoned for an assisted living community in 2021 but never developed.
GDOT also will need right of way from Lord and Stephens Funeral Home on Jimmy Daniell Road south of 316.
GDOT holds large tracts of land north of SR 316 west of Jimmy Daniell Road and south of SR 316 both east and west of Jimmy Daniell road acquired when that section of SR 316 was built in 1995 and 1996.
Dials Mill Extension Interchange
The let date for construction of the interchange to be built at Dials Mill Extension and SR 316 is now set for November of this year, with construction scheduled to begin in 2026.
GDOT has acquired two of the four displaced properties, one formerly owned by Ingrid Allcast and the other by Stephanie McClain and Matthew Mann. Both have addresses on Dials Mill Extension.
Property owned by John Alan Drews LLC and property owned by John and Jennifer Vogel, also identified on the 2023 GDOT Plans as to be displaced, remain in the hands of the owners, according to the county tax records.
GDOT holds rights of way for three properties on Dials Mill Extension south of the two purchased properties, but it has not yet acquired rights of way for three other properties on Dials Mill Extension and one on Dials Mill Spur.
Also missing is a central property owned by Scott Boswell, with a Dials Mill Road address. GDOT needs right of way on all three sides of the triangular property, which abuts Dials Mill Extension and SR 316 as well as Dials Mill Road.
GDOT also needs rights of way for two properties owned by Andersen-Wells II, one on Dials Mill Road south of SR 316 and the other on Dials Mill Road north of SR 316.
Andersen-Wells Lawsuit
Andersen-Wells and UCS Dials Road Road LLC, with the same address, 573 Hawthorne Ave., Athens, filed suit against GDOT on July 24 of last year saying that GDOT’s decision to locate the interchange at Dials Mill Extension rather than Dials Mill Road is “the epitome of government waste.”
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| Cover Sheet Lawsuit |
The suit claims that GDOT is “using between $10 and $20 million in taxpayer money” to “create what is essentially a private drive” for residents of Dials Mill Plantation subdivision.
The current plan is to block access to SR 316 from Dials Mill Road, with Dials Mill Road ending in a cul-de-sac at each end.
On the south side of SR 316, the only access to that blocked spur will be from the entrance to Dials Mill Plantation on Dials Plantation Boulevard and from the driveway to Scott Boswell’s home.
An earlier GDOT plan that would have created a full-interchange at Dials Mill Road, rather than at Dials Mill Extension, was opposed by residents of Dials Mill Plantation subdivision.
The suit also notes that the current plan calls for the displacement of four properties on which residences are located while the older plan called for the displacement of only one home.
That property displaced under the older plan is on the northwest corner of the Dials Mill Road and SR 316 intersection. That property is owned by UCS Dials Mill Road LLC, and the home has been demolished, the suit states.
The suit, which is before Superior Court Judge Lawton Stephens, asks the Court to “enjoin the implementation of the 2023 Revised Plan,” and award Andersen-Wells and UCS Dials Mill Road “adequate compensation for any damage or diminution in value” of their properties.
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