Long County received nearly $40,000 earlier this month from a businessman to help pay for road improvements where he wanted to put a convenience store.

After Long County resident Morris Lupton and his grandson Jason Lupton presented the county commission a $38,673 check on May 2, commissioners voted unanimously to accept Ocie Watson Loop as a county road. Lupton said he was paying the county for the completed road work.

At an August meeting, Lupton had asked commissioners to accept Ocie Watson Loop as a county road. He said if they did he would pay to pave since he was building a convenience store, On the Go Food Mart, off it.

On Aug. 19, the county received a permit from the Georgia Department of Transportation to begin road work on Ocie Watson Loop with funding as a 2017 development project. The permit was for the existing county road that intersects Highway 196 near Joe Kennedy Road.