East Macon Road Repairs Begin One Year after Residents Petition

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Construction is set to begin in an East Macon neighborhood, one year after residents petitioned for road repairs.

This week, crews will work to realign the three-way intersection at Upper River Road, Twin Pines Drive and Woodland Drive. The road repairs are an effort to slow down speeding drivers and improve the confusing intersection.

Last year, Karen Williams and her neighbors petitioned, protested and complained to elected officials that the roads were entirely too dangerous. The residents in the Shirley Hills community reached out to Macon City Council members Elaine Lucas and Rick Hutto and a speed control study was conducted. It was presented to Macon City Council before moving forward with the project.

People who grew up in the neighborhood say this interchange has been a problem for nearly 40 years.

“They just speed, it’s like a speedway” said Karen Williams, who lives on Twin Pines Drive, “so we’re really looking forward to it because this is our home.”

Once the project is complete, drivers will be forced to make a sharp turn onto Twin Pines Drive, rather than merging and racing through the neighborhoods. For drivers heading through the area in the next couple of weeks, Upper River Road will remain open during construction but the intersection will be closed to traffic for Twin Pines Drive.

Drivers will now take Lincoln Road and Lincoln Circle Road as a detour.

“I don’t care how long it takes to slow down traffic, if we have to take a different route, I don’t care,” Williams said, “I just want it done.”

This project was funded by the Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax and is expected to be complete in about four weeks.