Ribbon cutting planned for new Pegasus Parkway/Chips Moman Highway

The new, improved and extended roadway known in its construction stage as the South Loop opens for traffic on December 19.

“After the road opens, it no longer will be the South Loop but will go by its official name of Pegasus Parkway and honoraria name, Chips Moman Highway,” said Troup County Engineer James Emery.

It’s a day he looks forward to. When Emery joined Troup County’s Roads and Engineering Department in 2004, the South Loop project was roughly six months into the design phase. As head of the department, Emery has pushed the project along, navigating piles of paperwork, schematics and spreadsheets as the $35.6 million project unfolded.

A December 19 grand opening ceremony will feature brief comments by county and state officials and will include music paying tribute to LaGrange native and legendary music producer Chips Moman, for whom the new highway is named.

Partnering with the Georgia Department of Transportation, Troup County’s fiscal contribution to the project was approximately $2.3 million, according to Emery. The bulk of the undertaking, including all of its second phase, was funded with federal stimulus monies through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“In the beginning stages, Troup County expended $2.3 million, with most of that initial expense used to develop design plans and conduct environmental impact studies,” said Troup County Manager Mike Dobbs. “In looking back, the approximate 6.5 percent of the total project that we funded was well worth spending from our SPLOST and general budget to achieve this.”

The new 6.1 mile road connects Whitesville Road (near McDonald’s) to Roanoke Road (near Picnic Basket), enabling an alternative route to west LaGrange and industrial parks there. About half of the road is within LaGrange city limits, half in unincorporated Troup County.

“The road provides new connectivity and a new transportation route from east to west, south of LaGrange, to allow traffic to bypass our downtown, relieve congestion on downtown streets, Vernon Street and Lukken Industrial Drive,” said Emery. “It’s concrete so it won’t require maintenance to the paving surface for a very long time.”

A dual purpose for the connector road, he added, is for the industrial, retail and residential development potential it allows.

“It opens up property for industrial development, such as Sewon,” he said.

Construction was divided into two phases after the 2006 announcement that Kia Motors would build its first North American plant in Troup County, according to Emery.

“That produced an urgent need to open up this land for industrial development and therefore we broke the project into two phases with the first phase one that we could deliver early,” he said. Phase One, consisting of two miles in the middle of the 6.1 mile road (from Wiley Road to 1.3 miles west of Blue John Creek), opened to traffic on June 23, 2009. It included construction of a 900-foot-long bridge over Blue John Creek and CSX Railroad tracks, providing access to industrial property.

“Because we phased it and were able to complete the first phase when we did, our community was able to accommodate Sewon, a tier one supplier that demanded quick access to Kia,” said Emery.

Phase Two completed the remaining four miles of roadway and included construction of another bridge, this time a 280-foot-long railroad bridge near the Roanoke Road end.

Bobby Carmichael, executive director of LaGrange Industrial Development Authority, terms the new Pegasus Parkway a “significant improvement” for the south side of LaGrange.

“It creates an alternate route for industries that serve the Kia plant,” Carmichael said. “And it opens up Callaway South (Industrial Park) real estate for us to show more acreage to prospects, giving us greater development potential.”

Along with decreasing traffic congestion and enhancing community development, the new road is expected to reduce automobile accidents, according to Emery.

“We had some bad safety problems at Pegasus Parkway and Whitesville Road and Pegasus and Orchard Hill Road,” he said. “Those intersections were operating over capacity, overwhelmed with traffic, and signalization was needed.”

With the new road come new traffic signals at five of the Parkway’s nine intersections, including those trouble spots, according to Emery. The remaining four intersections will have stop signs.

Tony Richardson, District 3 project manager for the Georgia Department of Transportation, has been on the ground here for four years, daily overseeing operations of the road construction.

“It’s good to be able to offer the motorists in and traveling through LaGrange a safe route,” he said. “We at Georgia D.O.T. want to thank everyone for their patience and support during this lengthy project.”

Before the first shovel touched dirt, rights of way were obtained and 56 parcels of property purchased in order to construct the road, according to Emery who said the route was designed to minimize displacement of homes and businesses. The State of Georgia paid $5.5 million for right-of-way acquisition, according to David Millen of the Georgia D.O.T, which managed construction of the South Loop project. The general contractor for Phase One was E.R. Snell Contractor Inc. of Snellville, and C.W. Matthews Contracting of Marietta was contractor for Phase Two. Moreland Altobelli, an engineering firm headquartered in Norcross, was the highway designer.

“It’s been a massive project,” said Emery. “The final set of plans was huge. Phase Two construction plans alone were 676 sheets. It boggles the mind.”

The December 19 grand opening ceremony begins at 10 a.m. and features brief comments by Emery, Dobbs, Millen, Troup County Commission Chairman Ricky Wolfe, and Tom Moreland of Moreland Altobelli. The 30-minute program will include music paying tribute to Moman, whose career included playing guitar on, writing songs for, and producing hit records while working with some of the industry’s biggest names, including Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.

Moman will be the first to ride the completed 6.1 miles of the new road.