Bill Carruth Parkway officially opened at dedication ceremony

Paulding commissioners along with the former Chairman and the Parkway’s namesake Bill Carruth and public gathered on Tuesday, October 25th, in front of Pirate Printing located at Millhouse Road and Bill Carruth Parkway for a road dedication ceremony.
Bill Carruth Parkway is the county’s now completed four-lane by-pass road, first conceived and pursued by Carruth and other local officials dating back to 1990.
“This is a dream we had out of necessity. It was a true local government, state government partnership.” Carruth said. “If you take all the [county’s projects] together none have had the impact on the people of Paulding County.”
Carruth said the road, which took many years to complete, now serves as a major thoroughfare through the county and helps among other things to lessen traffic from Cobb.
Paulding’s DOT Director Scott Greene gave an overview of the project at last week’s dedication.
“This is the conclusion of a series of projects that has brought us to this point today going back nearly twenty years...we spent about 25 million of our SPLOST money on this project, 38 million overall on the contracts put together...,” Greene said.
At the conclusion of the dedication ceremony, the Bill Carruth Parkway was officially opened to the travelling public, adding one more project reaching its completion and public acknowledgement under the watch of exiting current Chairman David Austin.
According to information provided at last week’s ceremony, the project’s Phase One began with [construction of] a two-lane from Hiram Sudie to Hiram High School by the GDOT in 1998, then for Phase Two in 2000, GDOT added two-lane from Virgie Ballantine to Hwy 278 and in 2003 two-lane from Hiram Sudie to Hwy 92. SPLOST funded Phase Four in 2010 and added Hwy 278 to Railroad Bridge and federal and SPLOST the following year funded Phase Five for East Hiram Parkway- Hwy 92 to 278. Phase Six in 2014 used more SPLOST funds to widen from Railroad Bridge to Hwy 92.

Bill Carruth Parkway’s namesake (center w/scissors) Bill Carruth, Commission Chairman David Austin (right, next to Carruth) and other local officials gathered on Tuesday, October 25th at Millhouse Road and Bill Carruth Parkway for the dedication ceremony, which officially opened BCP to the travelling public.  (Photo: R. Grant)