Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

During the Troup County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, the county passed a resolution in support of the 2024 Troup County Long-Range Transportation Plan.

The plan identifies projects based on existing and forecasted future conditions of the transportation network through 2050. Identified projects consider anticipated growth in population and employment, along with growth related to freight for manufacturing and distribution.

The plan was created with the help of engineering firm Arcadis U.S., Inc. and transportation consultants Modern Mobility Partners, LLC, along with input from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), Troup County, the City of LaGrange, City of Hogansville, City of West Point, their respective development authorities, the Three Rivers Commission, the LaGrange-Troup Chamber of Commerce, KIA Motors Manufacturing, the Troup County School System and the Georgia Ports Authority.

The plan was formulated using demographic information from 2020, including population, income, employment and social equity data. Industry considerations were also a major factor. The county is home to several industrial developments, including the upcoming Inland Port.

In 2020, the county had a population of 69,400 in 2020, with an average household size of 2.75 persons.

About a quarter of Troup County households have three or more vehicles, with about a third having one or two. Fewer than 10 percent did not have a vehicle.

Manufacturing makes up the largest portion (30%) of employment within Troup County, showing the need for freight transportation.

The report highlights 97 infrastructure projects in total, with 29 being previously identified and ongoing projects like the Hamilton Road expansion and 68 newly identified projects ranging from new roadways, intersection improvements and bridge repairs to studies for long-range projects that are likely decades in the making.

The report includes too many projects to include here, but some of the highlights include the widening of Davis Rd. near the LaGrange Mall and the rerouting of US 27 bypass down Davis Rd. rather than its current route through downtown LaGrange.

The county has made multiple attempts to oppose the change and have GDOT simply straighten out the sharp curve north of LaGrange. Despite the county’s protests, GDOT is still moving forward with a design that would take that curve on US 27 and turn left to connect it to Davis Rd. near where Youngs Mill Rd. intersects with Davis.

Plans are to make Davis Rd. a four-lane highway to the mall, where traffic could then turn left to go to the interstate and route back to US 27. 

County Engineer James Emery said having a comprehensive long-term plan is important for preparing for the future. He said having one officially adopted would help with grant funding.

Emery said the county has approved transportation plans on a regular basis over the last 50-plus years.

The first one he could find dated back to 1968. The most recent one is believed to have been formally adopted in 2006, he said.

“The Troup County Comprehensive Transportation Plan adopted in 2006 was an effort that was very, very similar to this effort,” Emery said. “There have been other plans since then that you might consider to be transportation plans for Troup County, but those were not the same type of effort as this one.”

“When I think all of the work that has happened since 2006, you could point to that plan and see where it was recommended in that plan. And that’s the reason we needed to do [another] overall comprehensive plan because we have completed so much of what was proposed at that time,” Emery said. “I hope years from now we can look back on this plan and say the same thing.”

The full Troup County Long-Range Transportation Plan can be viewed at: https://www.troupcountyga.gov.