City of Statesboro, Bulloch Co. hold open house to discuss transportation plan

BULLOCH COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - Statesboro and Bulloch County are working together to develop a long-term transportation plan.

City and county are teaming up with a consulting firm to create it.

Monday night, they hosted a public meeting to get the community’s feedback on the main areas and issues the plan should address.

And a hot topic Monday…growth.

“Obviously, the Hyundai plant is a big one. We also have other development that’s coming into Statesboro as a result of the Hyundai plant, and there’s also big development planned for Bulloch County,” said Kathy Field, City of Statesboro Director of Planning and Development.

She says they’re trying to get ahead of the curve looking at both short-term and long-term impacts.

“We’re looking at approximately 15,000 jobs and that’s climbing. So where are those people going to live, where are they going to shop and how are they going to get there.”

An employee with the consulting firm Goodwyn Mills Cawood says they’re focusing on the plan’s next five years saying feedback Monday will help create the plan and tackle problem areas.

“It’s really going to give us that first list of projects to look at and there may be things that come out of the meeting tonight that we didn’t think of, that the staff and county and city didn’t think of.”

He says the plan will focus on growing and improving *all* areas of transportation…*both* city and county-wide.

“The folks in the community are the ones that use the roads and the highways and walk on the sidewalks and they can tell us best where the issues are. So, it’s really important to talk to them early in the process.”

He says people can still voice their concerns by taking the online survey posted on the city and county’s website.

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