Bibb County set to make historic investment in roads with SPLOST

Macon-Bibb County is planning to spend $50 million to improve and repave county roads in the coming years, the mayor announced Monday. 

“Unfortunately, in the past, we haven’t been able to put as much money in those infrastructures as we’d like to do,” Mayor Lester Miller said during a news conference at City Hall. “But all that changed in the last couple of months when the citizens of Macon-Bibb County, by a vote of 83% of those that showed up to vote, gave us the authority to make one of the most significant improvements in our infrastructure that we’ve ever been able to make.” 

The $50 million investment will come from a penny-on-the-dollar sales tax approved in March by 5,180 of the county’s 120,000 registered voters. The Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax will raise $450 million over the next several years. 

The current SPLOST, approved by voters in 2016, is for $280 million and collections are expected to end later this year. About $35 million of that SPLOST was dedicated to roads, according to Telegraph archives. 

The Georgia Department of Transportation helps pay for some local road improvements each year with grants it administers to cities from state fuel tax, but those grants are normally only a few million dollars, which doesn’t go far for the county’s more than 1,100 miles of roads. The county plans to use some of the $50 million to match state money.

“We’ll pave about 25 years of roads in four years,” Miller said of the work to be completed with the $50 million. “We all realize the value of good roads …. It’s about economic development. It’s about those folks who want to spend money or invest in Macon-Bibb County.”

Theron Ussery, who serves on the SPLOST advisory committee, said the county didn’t have the cash to pave enough roads when he served on city council in the ‘70s.

“The best thing that’s ever happened to this community is SPLOST,” Ussery said. “If you’re going to improve the quality of life, you’ve got to put money into it and we’re doing it.”

Last summer, the county commission voted to buy “StreetScan” software from SHI International Corp. for nearly a quarter million. The software uses LiDar cameras, artificial intelligence and other technology to assess the conditions of each road. The county expects results in June that will help it determine which roads are priorities for paving. 

The conditions of the county’s roads were studied in 2016 by Moreland Altobelli Associates Inc. and again in 2020 by RoadBotics Inc.

Results from the 2020 study found Goodall Mill Road was in need of repairs, which are now underway.  

The road, county commissioner Bill Howell said, is “really nobody’s fault, but it’s a problem.”

“Goodall Mill Road was a country road that really wasn’t designed for that much traffic,” Howell said. “But now we have that traffic. … It’s just putting undue strain on our infrastructure, but that’s part of growth. We like growth. It’s a good thing.”

Howell said $1 million would probably pay for paving on three or four miles of road. The county estimates paving will cost $250,000 to $300,000 per mile, depending on the size of the road.

“Roads are not pretty and shiny. Roads are kind of like your feet and some of your other things,” Howell said. “It’s not something that we brag about, but if you don’t have good roads, the rest of it suffers.”