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Any time there's a new red light in a small town, it's sort of a big deal.
Such was the case back in October, when a four-way intersection was created in front of the Milledgeville Mall.
All the while, however, the Georgia Department of Transportation maintained that it was a "temporary" solution. Then, last month, the Milledgeville City Council got a look at the "permanent" solution, or at least the initial concept. That concept calls for the creation of a new stretch of road carved out of the Big Lots Shopping Center. The road would hug the El Amigo property on one side and the Mattress Firm property on the other. There's currently a large Hampton Inn sign and a very large billboard in the path, and it's not immediately clear how the DOT will attack that problem.
Across North Columbia, the "mouth" of the entrance/exit near Longhorn Steakhouse will be widened in order to align with the new Big Lots entrance/exit, because right now it doesn't. Throw up some new red lights, and you have your "permanent" solution...
As a random piece of Milledgeville trivia, the Mattress Firm property is owned by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. According to tax records, an LLC called D3 Milledgeville purchased the .6-acre property in February 2016 for $325,000 and then turned around and told it to Kemp Properties LLC six months later for $2.148 million.
The new intersection is part of the DOT's master plan for the Milledgeville Mall-area business corridor. Included is a new game plan for Dunlap Road and Roberson Mill Road. Baldwin2K News will have more information as it becomes available.
