Commissioners approve change orders for Ronald Reagan project

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. – The Board of Commissioners unanimously approved (with Commissioner Molly Cooper absent) two change orders to the contract for the Ronald Reagan Boulevard extension project, during Thursday’s meeting.

The first involved a value engineering proposal (VEP) that calls for replacing an arch culvert with a box culvert, resulting in a savings of about $1.8 million that will be shared with the contractor GPs Enterprises.

The Ronald Reagan project involves the construction of a 3.6 mile long, four-lane roadway with 20-feet raised median, shoulders, curb and gutter with sidewalk along both sides from Majors Road to McGinnis Ferry Road.

In his presentation to the Board, Assistant County Manager David McKee said, “There is a big reason this is the last section of Ronald Reagan to be completed. The main reason is we’re building it through a swamp.”

McKee explained that a VEP is a post-award proposal by the contractor to save time and cost without impairing the function or characteristics of the project.

The second change order involved the need to purchase an additional 80,000 cubic yards of rock embankment at a cost of $2.6 million. The embankment is used to construct and stabilize a roadway, particularly in a swampy area, that Is frequently inundated with water.

Commissioner Todd Levent said, “When this project is done, it is done of the more crucial projects in this county. This and the 369,  400 interchange. When those two projects are done, it will start moving traffic astronomically different in this county.”

Estimated completion date for the project is July 2023.