A multi-step program to ease truck traffic in and out of the port of Savannah has been completed with a dedicated access road opening for business next week.
The project is called the Brampton Road Connector. Its price tag is not what would be associated with a giant infrastructure project, just $126 million.
It is a four-lane highway, which has also been described as more of a large offramp, that will link gate 3 at the port’s Garden City terminal to interstate 516. A spokesman said the Connector will now provide a direct connection between the two.
Skipping local roads
Previously, he said, traffic headed to and from the port would take a combination of highway 25 and Brampton Road. That trip involved crossing railroad tracks and multiple turns, as well as driving on Brampton Road, with other traffic.
That will no longer be necessary as the connector will take trucks directly in and out to the gate, the spokesman said.
He added that the right-of-way for the Connector previously was unused land, so it doesn’t impact any other roads or buildings.
“Improving the mobility of freight traffic from the port and increasing safety for motorists on local streets are key goals for this project,” Georgia DOT Commissioner Russell McMurry said in a prepared statement announcing the imminent opening of the project. “The Brampton Road Connector accomplishes both simultaneously.”
All done
The Brampton Road Connector is being described as the “final piece” of a series of projects to aid truck access to the port. The other projects are:
- The Jimmy Deloach Parkway, what the port calls a “limited-access truck route” that at its two ends runs between interstate 95 and interstate 16. That project cost $129 million.
- A rebuilding of the interchange between interstate 16 and interstate 95, a $295 million project to “improve the safety and flow of commuters and cargo moving on and off each interstate.
- The Highway 307 overpass, which cost $22.5 million to take traffic over the port’s Mason Mega Rail Terminal “and allowing for the free flow of trucks and trains.”
- The Grange Road upgrade, a $14.2 million project that the port says “provides better truck access” between the Jimmy Deloach Parkway and the Garden City terminal.
The Port of Savannah as a whole handles about 15,000 truck moves per day, according to the spokesman.
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