Survey results seem to reveal drivers’ love-hate relationship with Augusta’s main thoroughfare.
As part of a study looking at Columbia County’s development patterns, hundreds of the county’s residents were asked to name the roads they prefer to use the most and least.
An almost identical number of people answered both questions with the same answer.
“Interestingly, 49% of people responding said they prefer to travel Washington Road and 49% stated that they avoid it,” according to Columbia County’s Vision 2035 comprehensive plan. The county has compiled Vision plans for many years to provide informed guidance on the direction and scope of county growth.
Here s how Columbia County grew bigger in 2020
Like a teenager after a summer growth spurt, Columbia County might not be recognizable to returning Masters Tournament visitors.
During the past 12 months, though COVID-19 exacted a heavy economic toll nationwide, one of the world’s biggest retailers and the Army were helping write landmark chapters in the county’s history regarding growth.
In April 2020, as the Augusta area was feeling the economic sting of a postponed Masters, state development officials announced that retail giant Amazon would build an 800-employee, 600,000-square-foot multi-story distribution center in Columbia County that, weather permitting, is expected to open this summer.
Columbia County has a vision. The next step is to see what the state thinks.
The county’s Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a resolution to advance the midterm update of its Vision 2035 Comprehensive Plan to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs and the CSRA Regional Commission for further comment.
“Once we get that comment, we go through another review process in-house, and then we’ll have a formal adoption of the plan,” County Administrator Scott Johnson said Wednesday. “We still have a ways to go before the plan is approved.”
Vision 2035 serves several functions, mainly as a policy document to guide growth. Dividing the community vision into themes – development patterns; resource conservation; social and economic development; and intergovernmental coordination – the study classifies goals, then suggests projects that could be implemented to help meet those goals.
A $45 million apartment project in Columbia County is moving forward more than a year after neighboring residents predicted it would spur dangerous traffic congestion next to a school.
Despite the protests, the possibility of an expensive lawsuit tied to the land’s zoning status helped keep the project alive.
Grand Oaks at River Island is slowly taking shape on Blackstone Camp Road, which connects to Furys Ferry Road near its intersection to Evans to Locks Road.
Foundation slabs have been poured for “over 75% of the buildings, according to Matt Mills, executive vice president of the company overseeing the project, Southeastern Development. Initial plumbing has been roughed into the slabs, and framing was expected to start this week.
Cyber will be the Augusta area’s anchor as it weathers the nation’s stormy, COVID-shaken economy.
That’s among the conclusions drawn in the Georgia Economic Outlook, an annual forecast presented by the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business.
Augusta lost 10.2% of its jobs during the COVID-19 recession, analysts found. But it fared better than the state and the nation, positioning the Augusta area for a swift recovery in 2021.
Next year, Augusta’s employment is expected to grow by 2,800 jobs, said Jeff Humphreys, director of UGA’s Selig Center for Economic Growth.
“That is more than the 2,000 jobs added in 2019 – the year prior to the COVID-19 recession. It helps that a high proportion of Augusta’s new jobs will be high-skill, high-pay jobs,” he said.