Old Sunbury Road is expected to be open in East Liberty County again, possibly by the end of the summer.
The announcement came after a recent visit by Milton Cochran, a project manager for the state Economic Development Administration. His visit was part of the close-out process on a $2 million EDA grant received by the Liberty County Development Authority to help locate the Target distribution center in Tradeport East, a business park east of Midway.
"Our intent is to have the road open again with more paving to it once construction is complete," LCDA CEO Ron Tolley said.
The construction he refers to is for a speculative building that IDI, an international development company, is putting up. The Target center opened in the middle of last year.
Old Sunbury was an important colonial era road that ran from the port city of Sunbury in what is now Liberty County to Milledgeville. Stretches of it are commemorated at various places throughout the state.
In recent years the road in East Liberty was a sandy stretch through undeveloped forestland. Historians say it probably is not the exact route of the original road, but the EDA grant stipulated that the LCDA should try to preserve the road and its history. The Target building was put on the path of the road, but the western-most mile or so was detoured, four-laned and paved, but the new portion was named Old Sunbury.
The paving Tolley referred to will run the new road east of the IDI building and curve to the longstanding route. He said that work could be done by the end of summer.
The LCDA has also placed historical markers in Sunbury, its colonial-era cemetery and along Old Sunbury Road.
The announcement came after a recent visit by Milton Cochran, a project manager for the state Economic Development Administration. His visit was part of the close-out process on a $2 million EDA grant received by the Liberty County Development Authority to help locate the Target distribution center in Tradeport East, a business park east of Midway.
"Our intent is to have the road open again with more paving to it once construction is complete," LCDA CEO Ron Tolley said.
The construction he refers to is for a speculative building that IDI, an international development company, is putting up. The Target center opened in the middle of last year.
Old Sunbury was an important colonial era road that ran from the port city of Sunbury in what is now Liberty County to Milledgeville. Stretches of it are commemorated at various places throughout the state.
In recent years the road in East Liberty was a sandy stretch through undeveloped forestland. Historians say it probably is not the exact route of the original road, but the EDA grant stipulated that the LCDA should try to preserve the road and its history. The Target building was put on the path of the road, but the western-most mile or so was detoured, four-laned and paved, but the new portion was named Old Sunbury.
The paving Tolley referred to will run the new road east of the IDI building and curve to the longstanding route. He said that work could be done by the end of summer.
The LCDA has also placed historical markers in Sunbury, its colonial-era cemetery and along Old Sunbury Road.