A supplemental contract to the Howard Road realignment project near Senoia was approved May 10 by the Coweta County Commission. The project is expected to be completed by the end of May.
The construction of the Howard Road project includes the horizontal realignment of a portion of the roadway to soften a curve in the road that was difficult to traverse by tractor trailers without the trailer tracking off of the pavement onto the shoulder. Trucks utilize Howard Road to access the Winpak plant from Ga. Highway 16, said county Transportation and Engineering Director Tod Handley.
The curve realignment involves the placement of fill material on the inside of the existing curve to construct the roadway embankment for the new alignment, Handley said.
“However, this portion of the project is located in a low lying area with poor soils and high groundwater levels. A permit from the (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers for this work, a portion of which was considered to be located in wetlands, was required and was obtained by the county,” Handley said. “The existing soil and groundwater conditions in this low lying area will not allow for the typical placement of fill material as the existing soils will not support construction equipment or the fill material that is required.”
In order to continue with the project, said Handley, additional labor, equipment and materials that were not included in the original contract are necessary.
The additional work will include the placement of large stone material followed by smaller stone and then a geosynthetic fabric onto which normal fill material will be placed to the proper finished grade. The layers of stone and fabric will distribute the weight of the roadway fill material over a larger “footprint” area to support the roadway embankment, said Handley.
The project began approximately 1,600 feet north of Hwy. 16 and will end approximately 500 feet north of Cumberland Trail.
The supplemental contract carried a cost $26,646 and will be paid from the county’s special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST).
The project is expected to be completed by the end of May.
