Baldwin Paving Company has won the low bid of $451,900 to build the Mason Creek Road - Post Road intersection improvements which include new turn lanes and a traffic signal.

The junction has become a traffic bottleneck since the new Mason Creek elementary and middle schools opened last month. A Douglas County deputy is currently directing traffic going to the schools during the early morning hours.

The Douglas County Board of Commissioners (BOC) is expected to approve the bid at today’s 10 a.m. regular meeting in Citizens Hall at the county courthouse.

Funding will come from 2002 special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST) dollars from two projects earlier earmarked but now being constructed with federal stimulus money, according to Randy Hulsey, county Department of Transportation (DOT) director.

“We were fortunate to be able to get federal stimulus money for the Anneewakee Road bridge project and the Central Church Road - Kings Highway intersection project,” Hulsey said. “This freed up SPLOST dollars to be used for the Mason Creek - Post project.”

He said the county has received word from that state that “everything is in order” for an encroachment permit, which is needed because of the intersection’s proximity to the interstate highway system. The permit comes from the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) after the application has been reviewed by the Federal Highway Administration.

Another GDOT permit is required for installing the traffic signal, Hulsey added.

He said once Baldwin gets the notice to proceed, they have 180 days to complete the project.

“In our pre-construction meetings, we’re going to stress that we want to see the project getting under way as quickly as possible,” Hulsey said Monday afternoon.

In addition to a traffic signal, the work will include left and right turn lanes off Post Road onto Mason Creek Road, left and right turn lanes for Mason Creek traffic turning onto Post Road and a right turn lane for Mason Creek Road traffic turning onto Johnston Road.

Other items on today’s BOC agenda include:

• a new pawn shop permit request by Larry Jackson for Douglas County Pawn Shop, a request that was tabled at the Sept. 1 BOC meeting;

• a Rideshare grant revision to help purchase additional vans;

• supplemental agreement with C.W. Matthews Contracting Company, Inc. for $3,021 on the Chapel Hill Road at Dorsett Shoals Road project;

• awarding bid for asphalt to Baldwin Paving Company as the primary vendor with C.W. Matthews Contracting as the secondary bidder and E. R. Snell as the third supplier, for a period of six months;

• acceptance of funds from the district attorney’s post forfeiture account to pay for September, October and November furlough days for state employees;

• upgrade of senior secretary to legal assistant and creation of a new victim advocate position, by amending the budget by $25,000;

• appointment of Terisa Redd as county liaison to the Cultural Arts Council board of directors;

• and appointment of Julia McElhannon to the Douglas County Department of Family and Children Services board to fill the unexpired term of Sue Pearson, effective immediately and ending June 30, 2013.