TIFTON — With the 18-county South Georgia region approving T-SPLOST, Tift County residents will see a 1 percent sales tax increase effective Oct. 1.

According to Corey Hull, transportation and environment director for Southern Georgia Regional Commission, the commission is moving forward with the transportation special purpose local option sales tax.

T-SPLOST is projected to raise more than $500 million to fund about 150 transportation projects across the region.

Tuesday, residents across the region voted 19,975 in favor to 17,731 against, according to a county-by-county compilation of results available at the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.

Tift County supported T-SPLOST, with 2,698 “Yes” votes and 1,560 “No” votes.

For a county-by-county breakdown, see towards the end of this article.

Hull said the commission is working with Georgia Department of Transportation on the next step as far as beginning the process for transportation projects in the region.

He said the commission is reviewing state law to see what it needs to do for implementation. A residents review panel will need to be created, which will monitor the projects as they proceed, he said.

Some of the smaller projects, such as road resurfacings, could start as soon as 2019, Hull said. Larger projects will take more time to get off the ground.

Hull said the reactions from counties were varied.

“Some of them didn’t know what to expect, but they knew it was going to be close,” he said. “Some counties were much closer than they anticipated, while others really knew where their county stood on the matter.”

The Tift County Board of Commissioners proposed $50.8 million in T-SPLOST projects towards the end of last year.

A number of proposed road widenings account for $22 million of the project list.

Those road projects include:

• One mile of King Road widened to four lane with turning patterns from I-75 to Carpenter Road.

• 3.5 miles of Lower Ty Ty Road widened to two paved lanes with turning patterns from Ty Ty Sparks Road to U.S. 82.

• Widening Mt. Olive Church Road to three or four lanes from Hwy. 319 to Old Ocilla Road and Kennedy Road.

• Widening 2.75 miles of S. Carpenter Road to three lanes from Hwy. 82 to Hwy. 319.

• Widening 2.5 miles of Whiddon Mill Road to three to four lanes, starting at Upper Ty Ty Road and continuing on to I-75.

A $15 million storm water drainage infrastructure improvement project for South Tifton was also proposed.

A number of bridge repair and widening were on the list, totaling $8.5 million.

Those bridge projects include:

• Two are for Omega-Eldorado Road, one over Arnold Creek and one over Little River.

• Two are for Ferry Lake Road/W.B. Parks over the Alapaha River Tributary.

• One of those bridges are for Upper Ty Ty Road over Little River.

• One for Scooterville Road over Little Creek.

• One is for Ty Ty-Chula Road over Little River.

A $5 million taxiway improvement project for the Tift County Airport and a $1.2 million biking/walking trail that would run from I-75 Exit 62 to Carpenter Road were also on the list.

COUNTY BREAKDOWN

Atkinson: 460 Yes; 267 No

Bacon: 536 Yes; 425 No

Ben Hill: 1,151 Yes; 431 No

Berrien: 1,142 Yes; 927 No

Brantley: 702 Yes; 877 No

Brooks: 992 Yes; 868 No

Charlton: 576 Yes; 364 No

Clinch: 634 Yes; 269 No

Coffee: 2,076 Yes; 1,050 No

Cook: 884 Yes; 648 No

Echols: 191 Yes; 236 No

Irwin: 638 Yes; 247 No

Lanier: 637 Yes; 473 No

Lowndes: 3,618 Yes; 4,995 No

Pierce: 1,690 Yes; 1,161 No

Tift: 2,698 Yes; 1,560 No

Turner: 511 Yes; 509 No

Ware: 839 Yes; 2,424 No