Gwinnett Daily Post

GRAYSON - The Grayson City Council on Monday approved two measures that will shed some new light on the city.

The first, a proposal from Georgia Power, will put 19 new decorative streetlights along Ga. Highway 84. The streetscape lights will cost the city $57,832, and the Council plans to fund the lighting upgrade with Gwinnett County SPLOST money.

"We wrote to (Gwinnett) County and said we wanted to do some things on Grayson Parkway," Grayson Mayor Jim Hinkle said. "If we are going to have an Uptown District, we want to do it right."

The project will be in two phases, the first will be from the intersection of Ga. Highway 20 to Rosebud Road, and phase two from Rosebud to Bennett Road.

The second measure approved by the council was a proposal from the Georgia Department of Transportation for new traffic signals along Ga. 20 at four intersections: Ga. 84, Rosebud Road, Sosebee Farm Road and Hering Road.

The new signals are part of the project to widen Ga. 20; however, the city has requested an upgrade from the standard DOT streetlights to a more decorative light to match the small-town look of Grayson. The Georgia DOT will foot the entire bill for upgrades within the city's designated Historic (Uptown) District, but the city will have to incur the cost of the upgrades for those intersections outside this area.

The DOT estimates the city's portion of the upgrade costs will be $56,000; however, included in this cost estimate is the Ga. 20 and Rosebud Road intersection. This falls within the city's uptown Grayson district, and the council has asked the DOT to also pay the $18,000 for this intersection.

"We are planning on using SPLOST funds to pay for the new lights," Hinkle said. "Also, we are applying for a Transportation Enhancement Grant that we hope that will help pay for much of the costs."