“Your voice has been heard,” said Georgia State Representative of District 128 Mack Jackson on Thursday, June 22.
Representative Jackson was speaking to a crowd of over 150 Washington County citizens during a public meeting in the Sandersville Elementary School Auditorium held to discuss Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) proposed changes to the Ridge Road Truck Route.
As previously reported by WACO 100, the meeting was organized by WACO Thrives, a self-described “group of citizens and business leaders extremely concerned about the recent DOT proposal to remove Highway 15 traffic from Sandersville and Tennille and re-route it to the Ridge Road Truck Route.”
“While we strongly support the removal of heavy trucks from our downtowns by providing trucks with an alternate Truck Route, it is neither necessary nor in the best interest of our community to re-engineer the existing Truck Route to make it the primary route for Highway 15 automobile traffic,” said a statement from WACO Thrives.
During the Thursday meeting, Mitch Sheppard, Benji Tarbutton, and Charles Tarbutton spoke on behalf of the group.
Also in attendance and speaking to oppose the re-routing of traffic from Highway 15 to the Ridge Road Truck Route was Sandersville Mayor Jimmy Andrews, Washington County Board of Commissioners Chairman Horace Daniel, Georgia State Senator of District 26 David Lucas, and Washington County Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman Eddie Moye.
State Representative Mack Jackson, who has served District 128 since 2009, stated that he spoke on the phone with representatives of the DOT prior to the start of the public meeting and the Department of Transportation was willing to make necessary adjustments to plans to continue their partnership with Washington County.
“They will not stop traffic on Highway 15 from coming into Sandersville,” said Representative Jackson.
He announced that a meeting will be held on Monday, June 26 between the Department of Transportation and elected officials of Sandersville and Washington County to further discuss the situation.
“The DOT is working on a plan that will be presented to citizens in the fall,” stated Jackson. “They also wanted to let the people of Tennille know that they are not only working on the north end, but the south end, too, making changes on the design.”
Representing members of WACO Thrives and elected leaders in Washington County expressed their appreciation for the Department of Transportation’s longstanding partnership with the county and their willingness to hear concerns and make alterations.
“The DOT is a good partner in Georgia. We have one of the best Transportation Departments [in the nation], and I believe the best Commissioner in Russell McMurry. He knows what is going on down here in Washington County,” concluded State Representative Mack Jackson.
