LaGRANGE – As locals – as well as city and council officials – wait impatiently for major road construction projects to begin, the Georgia Department of Transportation continues to plod forward on the ever-growing list of road and bridge projects needing attention within the county.

LaGrange City Council received a much-awaited update on Georgia Department of Transportation progress on the Hamilton Road widening project as well as the Greenville Street Bridge reopening at its regular council meeting on Tuesday.

The Hamilton Road widening project has been on GDOT’s project list for decades now, but according to information released to the city, the project may begin taking bids in May 2019 after GDOT has acquired the roughly 200 land sections needed to create the right of way for the road.

The Greenville Street bridge has been a top request from city officials to GDOT since its closure last year, but due to the long list of other roads on the state agency’s list, the engineering firm in charge of the bridge’s planning is not expected to receive notice to schedule the final plans for the project for another three weeks. Following that, a series of approvals will be required by agencies, including the railroad, before bids can be placed on the project, which is estimated to occur sometime in December. GDOT has stated that it hopes to have the bridge done as soon as possible once the bid is awarded.

“They understand that this is a number one priority for the City of LaGrange to get that bridge back open,” said City Manager Meg Kelsey.

The city council also held the first hearing to move the Lee’s Crossing voting precinct site for city elections from Ethel Kight Elementary School to the Troup County Administration Building during that meeting.

The city council plans to meet again on Tuesday, March 14 at 5:30 p.m. at 208 Ridley Ave.

Reach Alicia B. Hill at alicia.hill@lagrangenews.com or at 706-884-7311, Ext. 2154.

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This article was corrected to reflect the correct county building for the Ethel Kight District change.