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GDOT warns rising construction costs are pushing projects back; agency and SERA press for major I‑75 South funding
Summary
Georgia DOT and SERA officials told the Senate subcommittee that construction costs have outpaced revenue for years, eroding buying power; GDOT described how amended budget infusions accelerated dozens of projects and SERA urged funding to advance I‑75 South express lanes as a freight‑priority investment.
Officials from the Georgia Department of Transportation told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that national and local construction‑cost inflation has eroded the state’s buying power and is the primary reason projects are being delayed in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).
The GDOT presenter (referred to in the hearing as the commissioner) said highway construction input costs rose much faster than CPI between 2020 and 2024, citing examples the agency included in its slides: two‑lane resurfacing costs up about 51%, urban widening up about 99% and bridge work up about 93% over that period. He explained that GDOT must prepare a financially constrained four‑year project list; when costs increase the agency adjusts estimates and pushes projects later in the schedule, producing a cascading delay effect.
GDOT summarized how amended 2024–25 state general fund infusions were deployed: local roads funding distributed by formula to cities and counties, a freight program allocation that advanced major projects, and capital maintenance dollars that helped recover some resurfacing capacity. The presenter said amended funds allowed GDOT to advance 44 project phases and speed 25 projects that had been pushed out, but that the state still faces a multi‑year gap in buying power.
The commissioner emphasized four large projects funded or proposed in the amended budgets: a design/build funding package (~$516 million) to widen I‑16 and advance freight access near the Port, about $74 million for I‑95 widening in the Savannah area, completion of a state route (SR‑96) to improve east‑west connectivity, and significant leverage funding for the I‑75 South express lanes. GDOT said the governor’s recommendation for I‑75 South represents the minimum amount the agency needs to complete design, environmental and right‑of‑way acquisition and to leverage financing for construction.
Janine Miller, the SERA director, told the committee that I‑75 South carries roughly 23% of the state’s freight value and has shown large growth in express‑lane trips; she presented congestion and delay estimates (including hours lost and estimated monthly delay costs) and argued that expanding continuous express lanes would substantially increase throughput and reduce delay for commuters and freight.
Committee members pressed GDOT on where the house changes redeployed funds, app performance for toll operations and whether autonomous trucking is modeled in projections; GDOT said autonomous vehicles are not yet adopted at scale enough to alter forecasts and that app performance is a vendor‑management issue. The hearing closed without votes; committee members asked for more granular allocations and project timelines in follow‑up materials.
