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Georgia motorists looking for a faster way to get across the state between Columbus and Augusta will have to wait a long time – if ever – for a solution.
A newly released study of options for moving freight through Georgia by the state Department of Transportation (DOT) has concluded that a plan to build the Peach State’s first interstate highway since the 1960s would not be a good return on investment.
Traffic projections show the proposed Interstate 14 likely would carry only an average of 3,000 trucks per day, well below the average daily flow of 11,000 to 18,000 trucks on Georgia’s existing interstates.
“I-14 demonstrated moderate benefits, including reduced congestion costs … and a decrease in vehicle hours of delay,” according to the report. “However, it is not projected to yield the same degree of positive impacts as other interstate highway projects such as I-75, I-20, I-95, and segments of I-16, especially considering the project’s initial cost estimate of more than $5 billion.”
Interstate 14 has its share of backers. The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill Congress passed in 2021 includes a provision designating the highway as a “high-priority corridor” that would run through five states from Texas through Georgia, connecting many of the Deep South’s military bases and ports.
On the state level, Georgia’s General Assembly passed a resolution back in 2019 supporting construction of the Georgia portion of I-14, picking up at the Alabama line at Columbus and extending to the South Carolina line in Augusta.
“It would be highly convenient for us in that part of the state,” said state Sen. Ed Harbison, D-Columbus, who sponsored the resolution. “When you come into Columbus from the west, you have to…
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