"The progress of the project will be decided by the contractor," Georgia DOT District 6 Communications Officer Joe Schulman told Smoke Signals this summer. As of late October, nobody has that job yet.
If you live in Big Canoe and drive into Jasper for the Kroger shopping center on Highway 515 or for an evening downtown, you may remember the earlier timeline. Work on State Route 53 Business was supposed to start in August or September. That window has closed and the road looks the same. The new start date depends on parcels the state still has to acquire and on utility lines under the roadway that have to be moved first. After those are done, the contractor decides where work begins, so even GDOT can't yet say which part of the drive gets disrupted first.
The Calendar Set in January
GDOT held a public open house for the project on January 13, 2026. According to Smoke Signals' coverage of that evening, the plan widens Highway 53 from two lanes to four, with a 16-foot raised median, from the Highway 515 intersection to the Summit Road intersection at Lee Newton Park. There the road splits into two one-way streets. One of them swings behind the old school and connects with Spring Street. Both end at a multi-lane roundabout at the intersection currently next to Walgreens, and sidewalks run the full length.
The schedule given that night was tight. Bids would open July 15, construction would start in August or September, and the work would take three years. GDOT's own project tracker, the GeoPI dashboard for PI 621490, still leaves the contractor, contract amount and notice-to-proceed date blank and lists construction progress at 0.00 percent.
Twenty-Four Parcels Between Now and a December Bid
The newer target comes from a later Smoke Signals report. GDOT confirmed it expects to put the project out for construction bids in December. House Transportation Committee Chairman Rep. Rick Jasperse said that schedule depends on settling the remaining property issues.
The same report counted 24 right-of-way acquisitions still open:
- 13 parcels where owners have accepted GDOT's offers and are finishing the final agreements
- 6 parcels in the condemnation process
- 5 parcels still in negotiation
Smoke Signals reported that it was still uncertain whether those parcels would delay the project. If the bid goes out on schedule, Schulman said construction could begin in the first quarter of 2027. At the Jasper City Council meeting on August 3, 2026, city staff described the December letting as still on track "as far as we know."
The math gets more concrete with GDOT's own duration estimate. In a May 19, 2026 letter answering public comments, the department said construction will take about 36 months. A start in early 2027 plus three years of work puts completion around early 2030, and only if every step from here goes to plan.
What Has to Move Before the Road Does
The parcels are only the first hurdle. Rep. Jasperse told Smoke Signals the utility work would be extensive because so many lines run beneath the roadway, and it all has to be relocated before roadwork can start. At the July council meeting, Deputy City Manager Kim Goldener estimated the city's utility relocation cost at about $5 million. The city has applied for financial help but doesn't expect outside money to cover all of it.
In late August, a separate problem showed how much of the city's system sits under this road. At an August 27 work session, city officials described a sewer-line problem on Highway 53 in front of Speed Burger. They said the city had requested an emergency GDOT permit for the repair and had planned overnight work beginning at 11 p.m. the next night, warning that a wider closure might be needed. Officials said the repair fell outside the widening project, and it is not part of the planned corridor relocation.
Two Price Tags, and Neither Is a Bid
Smoke Signals put the estimated cost at $63 million in its January report. GDOT's Transportation Funding Act forecast for July 2026 through June 2028 lists PI 621490 with a latest cost estimate of $37,802,341.
The two numbers likely measure different things. The forecast figure is a programmed estimate, and no winning bid exists yet. The real number for this project will be whatever the selected contractor bids, and that comes after December at the earliest. Either way, Smoke Signals calls it the largest transportation project in Jasper's history.
The Streets Downtown Are Getting New Names
One part of the project is already settled. At the August 3 meeting, the Jasper City Council approved GDOT's redesignation of the roads in the new alignment and authorized the mayor and city manager to sign the related documents. City staff walked council through the map. Coming in from 515, traffic will split across the Lawson's property, and some city streets will become state-maintained routes.
| Segment | Becomes |
|---|---|
| A portion of AW Lawson Boulevard | State Route 53 Business East |
| A new section across the United Methodist Church field, between Spring Street and Appalachian Trail | State Route 53 Business East |
| Spring Street through downtown | A GDOT road, designated State Route 53 Business East |
| West Church Street | State Route 53 Business West |
City staff also said a roundabout is proposed where Burnt Mountain Road and Church Street meet, even though it wasn't drawn on that night's map. Once construction is done, eastbound and westbound traffic downtown will use different streets, so the familiar Church Street route will only cover one direction.
How the Work Zone Is Supposed to Behave
The open house drew real interest. GDOT's response letter reports 2,579 visits to the project website during the comment period and 96 people at the in-person open house. Of the 116 people who submitted formal comments, 30 supported the project, 57 opposed it, 28 gave conditional support, and one was uncommitted.
The commitments GDOT made in response give the best available picture of daily driving during construction:
- Traffic keeps moving on the route. The January coverage said there will be no out-of-the-way detours. Crews will build two lanes going the same direction at a time and shift drivers into the other lanes.
- Side streets get short closures. GDOT expects short-duration closures on parts of Holly Street, Appalachian Trail, AW Lawson Boulevard and the new eastbound one-way street, with short detours on other Jasper streets and clear signage throughout.
- The roundabout stays two lanes. One commenter asked for a single-lane design. GDOT said two lanes are needed for the traffic volume and the types of vehicles using the intersection.
- Bicycles get paved shoulders. Dedicated bike lanes aren't included because they would greatly increase property impacts and displace businesses, especially downtown.
- Pedestrians get crosswalks and signals. Wherever the corridor lacks sidewalk, the plan adds crosswalks with wheelchair ramps and ADA-compliant pedestrian signals at signalized intersections.
None of this says where the first barrels go. That decision belongs to the contractor, who, according to Schulman, will weigh how to finish the project with the least disruption to traffic.
What to Watch Between Now and Spring
- The December letting. If PI 621490 is bid in December, the result will name a contractor and a contract amount for the first time, and GDOT's project hub and GeoPI dashboard should update after that.
- The six condemnation parcels and five still in negotiation. These are the open items Rep. Jasperse tied to the schedule.
- Jasper's utility funding. Watch city council agendas for updates on the roughly $5 million relocation and any outside help toward it.
- The contractor's phasing plan. This is the first document that will show which end of the corridor goes first, and whether the Church Street stretch or the 515 end is disrupted earlier in 2027.
Changes to the drive into town affect how a Big Canoe home works day to day, from grocery runs to how guests get to you. At North GA Properties, we follow projects like the Highway 53 rebuild so our clients know what's changing around them before the cones go up. If you'd like to talk about how the next few years of road work fit with your plans to buy or sell, Tom and Carolyn are glad to help. Start Your Home Search.
