Georgia opens 3-mile roadway linking Savannah port to I-95
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A 3-mile stretch of highway linking the Port of Savannah to busy Interstate 95 has opened west of Savannah.
Gov. Nathan Deal was on hand Friday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open the Jimmy DeLoach Connector. Georgia built the short stretch of four-lane highway to give trucks a direct east-west rroute from I-95 to Savannah's port — the fourth-busiest container port in the nation.
The Georgia Ports Authority says more than 8,000 trucks enter and exit the port each day. The connector was designed to give those trucks an alternative to State Route 21, a parallel highway used by many area commuters.
The connector was funded with the sale of nearly $100 million in bonds, which state lawmakers authorized in 2011.