Georgia Department of Transportation officials have announced that the Statesboro bypass is now officially open.
    Georgia D.O.T. Area Engineer C.R. Jackson said the bypass is now fully open to four lane traffic. He said he is happy with the outcome of the project.
    “It’s a pretty good looking job. The completion date was actually November 1 of this year, so they’re opening up ahead of schedule,” Jackson said. “(The contractor has) pretty much remained ahead of schedule for the duration of the project, so we’ve been very pleased with it.”
    According to Jackson, there will be some intermittent lane closures in the coming days to finish up some minor touches. He said there’s a small amount of striping still left to complete, in addition to some touch-up work. He also said crew will temporarily shut down some lanes along small stretches as crew remove the silt fences alongside the road and complete some minor clean-up of the construction areas.
    In addition to minor clean-up and touch-up work, crews still need to complete the long striping on the edges of the road. Jackson said that will be handled with “moving lane closures” meaning a large sign truck will direct traffic around the striping crews as the move along the road applying the stripes.
    Jackson, who oversees D.O.T. construction in Bulloch, Effingham, Evans and Candler counties said his attention will now turn to the Cypress Lake bridge, along with other projects. He said the bridge project is moving along pretty well and anticipates it will be open by Christmas but hopes it will be open to traffic even sooner.