No space on the road? Infrastructure, transportation concerns highlight Effingham Day

Transportation needs were a hot topic during Effingham Day at the Georgia Capitol as officials addressed an eager audience at the Ritz-Carlton in Atlanta.

Residents worry of lingering issues, such as much-needed road improvements. According to a population project by Georgia Coast, the county’s population is set to increase by 113% by 2030.

Effingham County Commissioner Wesley Corbitt said infrastructure like the Effingham Parkway will be key in alleviating Highway 21, a congested artery that serves as the only way for residents to get to I-95. While residents complain of industrial growth as well, Corbitt said the county is formulating a plan that will benefit homeowners.

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‘We need balance’

A growing number of warehouses are frustrating residents who enjoy living in what is known as a rural area. But Corbitt said balance of “property tax digest” is necessary and is hopeful residents will welcome industrial growth.

“Warehousing requires very little services and pays a lot of taxes, so that can be used for the infrastructure you need, as well as lowering the millage rate for our constituents.”

Corbitt estimates a one penny sales tax in the county generates $12-14 million a year and provides support for services such as EMS and police. The county’s property tax digest is $2.9 billion.

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“Commercial is good because not only do they pay property taxes, which helps with infrastructure, but the cost of services such as fire trucks and sheriff’s vehicles. Residential has more service costs, because that's what you're servicing, right? That's who needs the police protection and the fire protection probably as much as anybody and the schools. So, all that cost goes up.”

Many of the county’s newer projects were built on Old Augusta Road. According to Corbitt, former commissioners had the foresight to utilize that area as a truck route some 20 years ago. He appreciates their forward-thinking approach.“We haven’t expanded (industrial properties) a whole lot,” he said. “And you look and people say, ‘We don’t want to become Port Wentworth or Garden City and have all these warehouses and industries,’ but really ours are in particular places that have been planned for.”

Transportation needs

For residents, the widening of Highway 21 is at the top of their list of needs. Residents in Effingham County are growing weary over traffic delays and accidents on the north-south artery.

"Look at the population of Effingham back in the mid-90s and compare those numbers to today," said Duane Hughes. "Then look at the highway expansion since the mid-90s. It is far behind and not capable of handling the added population in this area."

Martelle Forbes fears adding more lanes to Highway 21 would only benefit the big rigs that dominate the road.

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"You cannot drive anywhere without being surrounded by dump trucks and 18-wheelers," said Forbes. "There seems to be no thought given to the future of people living here. If Highway 21 is expanded, it won’t be because of anything we say. It will be expanded to accommodate more trucks."

Corbitt is confident the Effingham Parkway will alleviate the road bogged down by big rigs. He estimates it would take more than $100 million to widen Highway 21.

“It would be expensive to do that,” said Corbitt. “We just met with the Georgia Department of Transportation. My thought is that the six lanes would help but that's not the priority. The priority is to move that traffic off 21 if at all possible. We would like to see that traffic moved to the parkway.”

State Legislature Bill Hitchens is still hopeful the road will be widened. The impact of Hyundai will add thousands of drivers to a highway that can barely handle its current number of motorists.

“Anything to do with building roads takes time and funding,” said Hitchens. “GDOT has 10-year plans and sometimes it's difficult to be able to intersperse yourself into that program. We obviously don't need to wait 10 years. We're behind already and I've been advocating for a while and so has Speaker of the House Jon Burns. GDOT is doing a comprehensive transportation study. Honda and the other companies that are going to be servicing them is going to bring around 15,000-18,000 new jobs. We're hoping that study will show there's a dire need. We know some of the companies that are coming in but trucking companies and other companies that are affiliated with them will be locating in the area and that is going to compound the transportation problem.”

Fellow Effingham legislator and Speaker of the House Jon Burns supports the idea of widening the road too.

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“The congestion on the Savannah River Parkway, Georgia Highway 21 from Rincon to Savannah is evidence of the tremendous residential and commercial growth in our area," said Burns. "I’m an advocate for widening parts of the highway and making interchange improvements at I-95."

According to Corbitt, an estimated $200 million will be spent on transportation improvements in the next 10 years. The county will add 11 roundabouts in the coming years, including several on Hodgeville Road.

“Roundabouts prevent accidents, save lives and keep traffic moving, particularly when you talk about all the trucking that is going to be coming through our county,” said Corbitt.

More trucks are coming

State Transportation Planning Director Jannine Miller did not have the best of news when addressing the audience about the number of 18-wheelers on Highway 21.

“There are more coming,” said Miller.

The bottleneck of traffic will grow due to the number of shipments and cargo from the Georgia Ports of Savannah. According to Miller, international shippers are utilizing a “four-corner strategy” to move products from each corner of the U.S.

“These international shippers are hedging their bets to make sure that they have redundancies in their system,” she said. “If one port is not performing very well, they can go to another one. It also allows them to penetrate throughout the whole United States.”

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The GPA is ranked as the No. 1 port in the country and moved more than 5.7 million containers in 2022.

“We know Savannah is awesome in terms of shippers wanting to ship through there,” Miller said. “That’s one of the reasons (for the increase in truck traffic) and it’s not going to stop.”

A GDOT study revealed 75% of cargo is first stored in Bryan, Bulloch, Chatham or Effingham counties. “That is a big finding that we have had with our Coastal Empire study,” said Miller.

GDOT is doing a study to identify infrastructure needs in the county. Miller suggested more information regarding enhancement to the area will be coming in the months ahead.

“We have a lot of stuff that we are going to need to be building down there,” said Miller. “We are still working to finalize the recommendations, but I can tell you the focal points are I-16, I-95, Highway 21, the Effingham Parkway and Highway 80.”

Latrice Williams is a general assignment reporter covering Bryan and Effingham County. She can be reached at lwilliams6@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Concerns over Highway 21, Georgia Ports lead Effingham County Day