Georgia Transportation Board Member Jamie Boswell will respond to a letter from Georgia House District 121 Rep. Eric Gisler asking for assistance in obtaining information about the proposed Truck Bypass of Watkinsville, the executive secretary to the Transportation Board said on Thursday.
Gisler sent a letter to Boswell’s Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) office in Atlanta dated Oct. 1 asking Boswell to help ensure that data, analysis, and studies supporting “any alignment decision” for the proposed bypass be released to the public.
Gisler followed that letter with an email message on Oct. 6 sent to Boswell’s GDOT email address that also contained the Oct. 1 letter as an attachment.
In an email message on Thursday (Oct. 22), Kristen Thompson, Executive Secretary for the state Transportation Board, wrote that “Mr. Boswell is in receipt of Representative Gisler's email and letter. He will be sending a response to the letter.”
Gisler provided a copy of that Oct. 1 letter to Boswell on his Facebook page on Oct. 16, saying that Boswell had not responded.
Boswell represents the 10th U.S. Congressional District on the 14-member Transportation Board. Oconee County is in the 10th Congressional District.
Members of the Georgia House and Senate whose district falls wholly or partially in the 10th Congressional District, as Gisler’s House District 121 does, appoint members of the Transportation. Three of Oconee County’s four precincts are in House District 121.
Boswell was first appointed to the Board in 2013, and his third five-year term expires on March 1 of 2028, which, as Gisler said in his Facebook post, would fall within the two-year term of whomever is elected to fill the House District 121 representative position on Nov. 3.
Gisler also noted in his Facebook post that Boswell donated $3,000 to Mack “Dutch” Guest IV in the special election Gisler won in December. Democrat Gisler and Republican Guest are running again for that seat now.
Gisler’s Letter
Gisler has played a prominent role in the public discussions of the four routes GDOT consultants have offered for a Truck Bypass linking SR 15 with U.S. 441 south of Watkinsville. The bypass would be in his district.
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| Boswell GDOT Photo |
He identified problems with how the consultants discussed the data they presented at a virtual meeting with stakeholders on Aug. 20. The consultants spoke of reducing traffic in downtown Watkinsville, but they used data from a point south of the railroad tracks on SR 15.
At the Sept. 15 meeting of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners, Commissioner Chuck Horton asked Gisler to help get access to the data used by the consultants in their presentation.
In his letter to Boswell on Oct. 1, Gisler said that the proposed bypass “has generated considerable concern in southern Oconee County, where the proposed routes would significantly affect local residents.”
Gisler wrote that after the Aug. 20 meeting he has been “in direct contact with Strickland, Regional Vice President at NV5," GDOT’s consulting firm for the project.
“The central issue concerns traffic projections presented at the August 20, 2026, stakeholder meeting,” Gisler wrote to Boswell. “At that meeting, Mr. Strickland stated that Alternate 1 was the preferred route at that time and presented traffic projections for 2050 comparing Alternate 1 with the ‘No Build’ option.”
“Following the meeting, I requested a copy of the study or analysis supporting those projections, as no supporting explanation was presented at the meeting,” Gisler wrote. Gisler attended that virtual meeting.
“I was told that more information would be added to the project website, but I was not given a timeline for its release,” Gisler wrote.
“In a subsequent request, I asked for clarification on the timeline for upcoming milestones related to this project,” the letter continues. “As of this writing, I have not seen any new information added to the project website, nor have I received clarification on the project timeline.”
“I request your assistance in ensuring that all data, analyses, and studies supporting any alignment decision for this project are released to the public sufficiently in advance of any future PIOH (Public Information Open House) or public announcement of a final alignment to allow meaningful public review and response,” Gisler wrote to Boswell.
My Request Of Boswell
On Oct. 21, I sent an email to Boswell’s GDOT email address.
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| Gisler 9/15/2026 |
“Rep. Eric Gisler (HD 121) has reported that he sent a letter to you on Oct. 1 to your official GDOT address in Atlanta and followed up on Oct. 6 by email, attaching the original Oct. 1 letter as well,” I wrote.
“The Oct. 1 letter asked for your assistance with questions about the proposed Truck Bypass of Watkinsville (Project ID 0017970),” my email continued.
“Rep. Gisler has said that you have not replied to either the original message or to the Oct. 6 email,” I wrote.
“I don't assume that any message makes it through to the recipient,” my email continued. “So I am just checking with you to make sure that you did receive the Oct. 1 letter and/or the Oct. 6 email that contained that original letter.”
Transportation Board Executive Secretary Thompson responded to me in an email message on Oct. 22.
“Mr. Boswell is in receipt of Representative Gisler's email and letter,” she wrote. “He will be sending a response to the letter.”
Campaign Contributions
According to Guest’s campaign finance reports for 2025, Boswell gave him two contributions of $1,500, one on Dec. 2 and the other on Dec. 5.
Guest filed his campaign finance report for the period ending on Oct. 20 on Oct. 23, and he has not reported any additional contribution from Boswell in 2026.
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Gisler did not report receiving any contribution from Boswell in 2025.
He has not filed his Oct. 20 report, which is due on Oct. 27.
Gisler did not report any contributions from Boswell in his earlier reports this year, the last of which ended with contributions and spending as of July 31 of this year.
Guest reported that he had a balance in his campaign account of $194,292 on Oct. 20.
He reported that he raised $57,000 from Aug. 1 to Oct. 20.
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