Designs show future of Lewiston Road traffic plan

News 12 NBC 26 at 6 O'clock / Feb. 2, 2017

COLUMBIA COUNTY, GA. (WRDW/WAGT) -- A new traffic pattern coming to Lewiston Road will be like nothing you've seen in this area.

It's not just the people who live off exit 190 that notice the stop and go, stop and go traffic.

"Right now, it's slow, and you really have to have a lot of patience with it," said Pamela Williams, lives in Grovetown.

Pamela Wililams moved here in 2008 and remembers a time when you could drive through Grovetown, blink, and miss it.

"I've watched the Walmart come, and all this here and there was no traffic. You could get down this road with no problem," said Williams.

But with every new development, comes the one thing Columbia County can't seem to avoid.

"We're becoming a little Atlanta here with this traffic," said Williams.

"One of the main changes and improvements we're going to make is right here at the interstate," said Steve Exley, Columbia County's Engineering Manager .

At exit 190, that leads onto Lewiston Road. It's an area that usually sees backups at peak travel times, and the county has a plan to fix that.

"We are going convert the diamond interchange into a diverging diamond interchange," said Exley.

Which takes traffic that's normally on the right hand side of the road and moves it over to the left hand side of the road. A process that helps traffic flow on and off the interstate.

"That allows traffic to just like kind of roundabouts and just allows traffic to continuously move," said Exley.

The designs also include widening Lewiston to four lanes, adding bike and multi-use lanes, and more left turn lanes onto William Few, another corridor that sees congestion.

"It's just going to be, you know, a big, big difference there. Lots of turn lanes. Lots of through lanes," said Exley.

But until then, drivers continue to say their prayers for patience.

"Everyone has to be patient and wait, and we'll see. Hopefully it's a great thing," said Williams.

Work on this project won't begin until late 2018.