AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – This Labor Day weekend, troopers will be out looking for drunk drivers, and lane closures will be on hold – but not until crews get one last burst of work done at the state line ahead of the holiday.
Georgia and South Carolina are once again partnering to take drunk and drugged drivers off the road during the 31st annual Hands Across the Border impaired driving education and enforcement campaign.
At the Georgia welcome center on Interstate 20, officials on Thursday provided an update on the efforts to take drunk and drugged drivers off the road prior to the start of the Labor Day holiday weekend.
Watch the stream above.
Georgia Department of Transportation construction partners will close the Interstate 20 eastbound right lane and shoulder from the Savannah River to the Exit 1 interchange in South Carolina.
Weather permitting, the closure starts at 10 p.m. Thursday and ends at 6 a.m. Friday. The lane closure will allow crews to relocate temporary concrete barrier wall and the crash attenuator at the South Carolina Exit 1 ramp.
But after that, the Georgia Department of Transportation will suspend lane closures on Georgia interstates and state routes from noon Friday to 5 a.m. Tuesday.
While construction-related lane closures will be suspended, crews may still work near highways, and safety concerns may require some long-term lane closures to remain in place, Georgia transportation officials said.
In South Carolina, similar steps will be taken from 6 a.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Tuesday.
The Georgia Department of Transportation’s five-day travel forecast for the holiday weekend indicates the heaviest traffic volumes may materialize on Friday, with moderate traffic predicted on Saturday. Light traffic is expected on both Sunday and Monday.
Forecasts are based on historical traffic volumes on similar dates around the Labor Day weekend.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates about 9,560 people died in traffic crashes in the first quarter of 2022. This is a roughly a 7 percent increase as compared to the 8,935 fatalities projected for the same quarter in 2021 and would be the highest number of first-quarter fatalities since 2002.
Also on the roadways
- The roadway-widening project continues for Lewiston Road in Columbia County. Closures include the right lane of the westbound I-20 exit ramp to Lewiston Road and the southbound lane on Lewiston Road from William Few Parkway to the eastbound I-20 exit ramp to Lewiston Road.
- There will be intermittent, temporary lane closures with lane shifts in Oak Brook subdivision in Columbia County through Sept. 12. Affected roads will include Oak Brook Drive, Willow Oak Court, Oak Brook Lane, Live Oak Lane, Live Oak Court, Red Oak Court, Beaver Brook Drive, Osprey Lane, Buist Lane, Peregrine Place and Peregrine Court.
- In Richmond County, Essie McIntyre Boulevard on both sides of 15th Street will be closed from Sept. 7-10 for utility work.
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