This online news website is owned and operated by Becky Watts. The Editor can be reached at 770-468-7583 or at editor(at)PikeCountyTimes(dot)com. Pike County Times is a website for citizens to keep up with local events and stay informed about Pike County government. It began on November 13, 2006 as a watchdog on county government and has turned into an online newspaper.
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By Editor Becky Watts
ZEBULON - Pike County has been awarded $315,299.91 from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) as part of a grant from the State of Georgia to Pike County in the Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG) program. This may be more familiar to readers as the LARP program that was used to make road improvements within the county up until the name change two years ago.
Terry Gable and Wayne Huff of the Georgia Department of Transportation presented the check to Commissioner Tommy Powers and Public Works Director Todd Goolsby, on Monday, January 7, 2013. Photo above is courtesy of the Pike County Board of Commissioners.
"The original grant request was for leveling and surfacing of 2.0 miles of Sullivan Road from Highway 19 to Howell Road, 1.5 miles of Dripping Rock Road from Highway 18 to Pike County/Upson County line, 1 mile of Twin Oaks Road from County Farm Road to Drew Allen Road, and 0.5 miles of Etheridge Mill Road from Shackleford Road to Liberty Road," said County Manager Mike Phillips. "Some additional funds were approved for cutting out and patching bad spots on various other roads."
Pike County is required to provide approximately $94,590, which is 30% matching of local funds, as a requirement from the State of Georgia because the T-SPLOST (1% sales tax for transportation in our 10 county district) was not approved by voters in our region last year. However, part of the match can be in-kind work on these projects by our Public Works Department here in Pike County.
These matching funds can also be funded through the Roads, Streets, and Bridges portion of the current Pike County SPLOST project after the Pike County Courthouse is completed. There was no matching requirement for grant funds last year, but that was changed by the State of Georgia for the 2013 year due to budget constraints.
County Manager Phillips advised that the grant will be held in a separate, restricted account throughout the LMIG grant verification and audit process.