TAYLOR COUNTY, GA - HISTORY  Road Construction - Butler

*****************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm

http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm
***********************
This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:
Gerrie Hill  genealogyplus@bellsouth.net

The Albany Herald Sunday, Sep. 28, 1997


Road construction changes tiny town

Butler, a hamlet without a stoplight, may become
transportation hub.


Butler Ga. (AP) This Georgia community with no stoplights,
no motels, a handful of service stations and only a few
restaurants, is on its way to becoming a  major
transportation center.


There is $19.5 million worth of construction in progress on
about 13 miles of highway in and around Butler, about 50
miles east of Columbus.


Just west of town, the four laning of Georgia 96 for the
Fall Line Freeway is well under way. A strip has been
cleared for a bypass around downtown and will tie into an
existing road just inside the east city limits.


US 19, which is being four-laned between Atlanta and the
Florida state line, also is under construction in town.


"I've lived here all my life and I never expected to see
this," said Taylor county Sheriff Nick GIles as he examined
a construction site. "I Know the shiriff's office isn't
ready for it. As far as this county government, the
courthouse space is literally used up."


Giles said he hopes the community will be ready for heavy
traffic when the projects are completed.


"I've had  truckers tell me that the shortest and
straightest route from the West Coast to the East Coast will
be through Butler when the Fall Line Freeway is finished,"
Giles said.


The freeway will link Columbus, Macon and Augusta. Instead
of driving from Birmingham to Atlanta, then south to Macon
to reach Savannah, truckers could shave time and miles from
the trip by driving from Birmingham to Columbus, then east
through Butler to Macon.


State Department of Transportation spokesman Jerry Stargel
said a completion date is uncertain because funding is year-
to-year.


The Taylor County Development Authority is spending nearly
$650,000 to build a 50,000-square-foot speculative building
in hipes of luring an indurtry or warehouse operation, said
executive director Patsy Brunson.


Giles has only eight deputies to patrol about 360 miles of
paved road and 400 miles of dirt road in a county that
stretches 32 miles from north to south and from east to
west.