Tag Archives: GDOT

Two GA-EPD water advisories about US 84 widening project

Thirty-day comment periods closing 12 August 2015 to comment on the US 84 widening project, say 300x175 Greasy Branch, CSX Railroad, Upper Suwannee River Watershed, in Two GA-EPD water advisories about US 84 widening project, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 13 July 2015 two Public Advisories from GA-EPD Watershed Protection Branch. One is in the Satilla River watershed, about “two existing open water ponds (outflowing into jusrisdictional[sic] wetlands associated with Lees Branch)”: those ponds are next to the groundwater-contaminating CSX railyard in Waycross. One is in the Upper Suwannee River watershed, about “three existing open water ponds (outflowing into jusrisdictional[sic] waters associated with Greasy Creek and the CSX railroad)”. Maybe the Southern Environmental Law Center letter to GDOT and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers got some results, although these advisories are from a different state agency.

The Upper Suwannee one starts at Continue reading →

For development, or not needed? US 84 widening from Homerville to Waycross

This paragraph sums it up:

300x388 Wetlands 29 and 31, in RE: SAS-2014-00862, Proposed U.S. Highway 84 Widening, by Gilbert B. Rogers, for WWALS.net, 28 May 2015 The project’s stated purpose in the EA is “economic development,” as part of the Governor’s Road Improvement Program created in the 1980s. See EA at 4. The NEPA regulations promulgated by the Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) require agencies to examine the indirect impacts of projects — those growth-inducing impacts caused by a project, such as changes in land use and development patterns. 40 C.F.R. § 1508.8(b). Yet over and over, when purporting to examine the project’s potential for indirect impacts on various natural resources, the EA repeats, “The proposed project is not expected to precipitate substantial development along the corridor.”

Other questions include, why not use a narrower median? Why not leave trees on the median?

Below is the full text of the letter Continue reading →

Widening US 84 from Homerville to Waycross

300x232 Figure 4.1: State and Federal Waters Map, in US 84 four-laning from Homerville to Waycross, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 28 April 2015 GDOT and the Army Corps want to widen U.S. 84 from Homerville to Waycross. Since it appears that US 84 is already four lane from Thomasville through Quitman and Valdosta to Homerville, and from Waycross onwards northeast, this would be the remaining gap. The public notice says little or nothing about why this road work might be needed.

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Public Notice, 28 April 2015, SAS-2014-00862 (SP-WMR), Widening and Reconstruction of U.S. Highway 84, with PDF. Since that notice says it expires in a month, there’s also a copy of the PDF on the WWALS website, including this location information: Continue reading →

Bowen Mill Pond, Brooks County, Georgia

300x258 Bowen Mill Pond location west of Quitman, in Piscola Creek, by John S. Quarterman, for WWALS.net, 2013 For fishing in Brooks County, GA, try Bowen Mill Pond, west of Quitman. Heading west on US 84, turn right on Barwick Road between the Harveys and the Rite Aid, or right on Shiver Road. Then turn left on Dry Lake Road, and eventually turn left on Bowen Mill Pond road. You’ll see the pond on your right after a while.

Or, if you don’t mind dirt roads, turn off of US 84 onto Few Lane, immediately left onto Hassell Road, and when it curves to the right you’ll see the pond on your left.

Or keep going on US 84 until you see the tiny concrete marker Continue reading →