Widening of SR17 in Stephens County Underway

It has been years in the planning and now work is underway in Stephens and Franklin counties to expand SR17 into a four-lane from the Franklin County line into Toccoa.

 “Work began on Monday,” said Georgia Department of Transportation spokesperson Teri Pope. “The contractor started clearing so work has officially begun. You’re going to see that clearing take awhile because with the rains we want to do it slowly and make sure we don’t have erosion problems with the clear cutting of the path for the new roadway.”

Pope said the widening is being done in two phases by the same contractor.

The first phase will widen 17 from the Franklin Stephens County line to Scott Rd. in Eastanollee at a cost of $46.2 million. It has a completion date of May 31, 2016.

The second phase widens SR17 from Scott Rd to Memorial Drive at a cost of  just over $20-million and has a completion date of April 30, 2016.

“It’s just over ten miles of widening. Basically SR17 will be widened from the Franklin-Stephens County line all the way to Memorial Drive near Toccoa,” Pope said.

SR17 from I-85 to the Stephens County line in Franklin County was completed in 2008.

Spearheaded by former State Representative Jeanette Jamieson, the widening of SR17 from I-85 into Stephens County has been in the planning stages for over a decade, but funding was not available to complete the entire project at once.

In July 2011, the GDOT held a public hearing at Eastanollee Elementary School to show the public the proposed route of the new four-lane.

Pope said the plan for the Stephens County route will alter 17 slightly from its current course.

“We’re widening to a four-lane divided highway and parts of it will not take the same route as the current roadway. For example we’re not going through the town of Martin as the current 17 route does. We will be going outside of the town of Martin to build that four-lane,” Pope said. 

Pope said an official ground breaking ceremony is slated for later this summer, but the actual date has not yet been determined.