The planned construction of a ramp to connect Akers Mill Road in Cumberland to I-75 is facing delay after developers realized the construction would cost twice as much as they originally thought.
The money for ramp was supposed to be available in August, but officials now realize they have to pay millions more for I-75 and I-285 construction to accommodate the ramp.
The Cumberland Community Improvement District proposed a ramp at Akers Mill Road in Cumberland as a part of the $834 million Northwest Corridor project. The ramp was supposed to connect Akers Mill Road directly to I-75 to alleviate some of the traffic in the area.
“Without the ramp, you have a congestion problem and a safety problem left unsolved,” CID Chairman Tad Leithead said.
The Georgia Department of Transportation agreed to build the ramp if the CID could come up with the money to design and build it at an estimated cost of $22 million by a deadline set for this August, Leithead said.
“The August deadline is no longer relevant,” Leithead said. “That deadline was for us to raise $22 million for a $22 million project. This is no longer a $22 million project.”
Cobb County’s Board of Commissioners put $5 million behind the ramp in July and the CID sought other funding partners to cover the construction costs of the project. The CID had nearly reached their $22 million goal.
But a new study of the project set the costs even higher. The initial estimate didn’t account for the fact that the construction of the ramp is actually two projects in one, Leithead said.
“They’ve got to rebuild and widen the portal on I-75 to allow for the additional capacity that our ramp will create,” Leithead said. He added that the work on the portal alone could cost $18 million on top of the $22 million estimate to build the ramp itself. Other design problems bring the total costs to around $51 million, Leithead said.
The CID is now trying to develop a new plan to build the ramp, starting by setting a new deadline by which to close the funding gap.
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