CLAXTON, GA (WTOC) -
Orange barrels still
filled Claxton's portion of US 280 as business owners like Houston Hodges
waited for them to be moved any moment. He's watched the construction for much
of the decade he's been open.
"It's been tougher on
the customers to find us because sometimes they had this road closed or had
that road closed. But we have an old parking lot out back," said Houston Hodges
of Hoody's Hoagies.
The construction of a
five-lane highway has cramped and frustrated drivers and business owners alike.
"At times, they've blocked us off on our
drive, both of them coming in. So we had customers come in the back. With the
construction happening, we had people ask what road can I take to get to your
place basically," said Brian Hodges of Ace Hardware.
What you had was two
parallel streets with a railroad track between them and they flipped them to
get all the lanes together. But from the design to the state funding to the
actual construction took more than 20 years.
Claxton's mayor said everything
from a bad economy to political changes in Atlanta have slowed the project.
But, finally at about 2:30 p.m. crews started moving barrels and the roads
lanes opened.
"Mayor Perry Lee
DeLoach started this. It's his baby. I know he's looking down and watching us
open it up today," said Claxton Mayor Luther Royal.
Planners said then that a widened road and better route to the interstate will
help attract industry and jobs. Royal said he hopes all the years of struggle will
give them their path to growth.
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US 280 opens in Claxton after years of construction.
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