Traffic moves along Interstate 59 on Tuesday in Dade County, Ga. Areas of I-59 and Interstate 24 will be resurfaced this summer.VIDEO
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The Georgia Department of Transportation is going to resurface Dade County's two interstate highways: I-59 and I-24, in that order.
"It'll be completed this summer," GDOT Area Engineer Devon Brooks said.
June 6 is the kickoff for $10.5 million worth of resurfacing for I-59 from just west of state Route 136 in Trenton, Ga., to the Alabama line.
Marietta-based C.W. Matthews Contracting Co. Inc., one of the state's largest paving contractors, will apply 74,000 tons of asphalt.
Crews can work anytime -- except when traffic's the busiest, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Asphalt must stay hot to work properly, and C.W. Matthews will truck it in from its own asphalt plant, Brooks said.
"They have insulated trucks," she said, to keep the asphalt molten.
The I-59 work should be done by September, she said.
The $4.4 million repaving of the 4.2 miles of Interstate 24 that dips into Georgia from the Tennessee line should start in early July. Brooks said that work will take place only at night, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. C.W. Matthews will apply about 30,000 tons of asphalt.
The paving contractor will pay law enforcement officers -- probably sheriff's deputies -- to monitor construction zones to stop drivers from speeding, Brooks said.
"They will, on both of these [projects], pay to have officers out there to give speeding tickets -- and they will," she said.
The I-24 resurfacing should be done by October, Brooks said.
Traffic always will be able to flow on both interstates during the repaving, she said.
The federal government is paying for the majority of the repaving, she said.
The sections of interstate highway warrant repaving, Brooks said, according to the Computerized Pavement Condition Evaluation System used by GDOT to evaluate road conditions.
Dade County sculptor Jerry Wallace, who frequently drives on I-59, doesn't think there's a pressing need for resurfacing.
"I haven't noticed that it needs it. Haven't seen any huge potholes," said Wallace, whose public artwork Temporal Transect #2 stands on U.S. Highway 11, less than one mile north of the town square in Trenton.
"It sounds like Highway 11 is going to get a lot more traffic," Wallace said, because drivers will want to avoid the construction zones at night.
Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6651.