Over the course of about three weeks, more than a dozen roads were improved as part of #PavingTheWay, Macon-Bibb’s new road improvement project that includes repaving, patching, pothole filling, and restriping. This initiative is funded with nearly $15 million from the general fund, Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), and state Local Maintenance & Improvement Grants (LMIG). 

 “For too many years, a lack of funding meant our roads deteriorated faster than we could fix them,” said Mayor Lester Miller. “We are putting millions more into this work to begin catching up by focusing on our worst roads.” 

 Roads in this round of repaving/restriping and reflector replacement included: 

• Forest Hill Road from Rogers Road to Wimbish Road; 
• Hollingsworth Road from Mumford Road to Log Cabin Drive; 
• Morgan Drive from Napier Avenue east to Austin Avenue; 
• Willow Lane;
• Franklin Street Lane;
• Casablanca Drive;
• Weaver Road;
• Hubbard Road;

• Vine Street from Napier Avenue to Lawton Avenue; 
• Napier Avenue where it connects to Vine Street; 
• Ell Street from Houston Avenue to Chappell Street; 
• Plant Street at Little Richard Penniman Boulevard; 
• Hunnicut Road off of Fulton Mill Road; 
• Lower Thomaston Road;
• Appling Court near Shurling Drive and Eastview Avenue;  
• Dennis Court near Shurling Drive and Eastview Avenue;  
• Kevin Drive from Millerfield Road to Shady Road Plaza; 
• Old Clinton Road from Wood Valley Road to Ben Hill Drive; and 
• Gwinnett Drive. 

Macon-Bibb hired RoadBotics to study every mile of county-owned roads and rated them from 1 (best) to 5 (worst) based on potholes, cracks, structural integrity, and other signs of damage and deterioration. The roads that will be focused on during this first round of Paving the Way are the ones rated 4 and 5.  

 “We are going to conduct another road study to create a list of the roads for the next round of this program, knowing that a road with a ranking of three will have deteriorated in the next two to three years,” says County Manager Dr. Keith Moffett. 

The County has hired C.W. Matthews, Mid-States Striping, Professional Paving Services, and Reeves Construction to handle different aspects of this project. Other roads that have had repaving, restriping, or patch work include: Jeffersonville Road, Masseyville Road, Recreation Road, Riggins Mill Road, Rogers Road, Skipper Road, 7th Street, South Walden Road, Duffey Drive, Castlegate Road, Hillcrest Avenue, Masseyville Road, Rocky Creek Road, and Lawrence Drive South.