Several area residents got a closer look at the Transportation Referendum of 2012 Tuesday when representatives from the Georgia Department of Transportation hosted an informational meeting in Pembroke.
The meeting, held in the Dixie Harn Community Center, drew around 20 people who were interested in the referendum set for July 31.The meeting was held to provide general information about the referendum, and how it will benefit different regions throughout the state.
"It's an opportunity to deliver projects that have no funding now, or very little," Bradford Saxon with GDOT said. "In the Coastal Region...there are a lot of projects on that list that weren't even on the DOT drawing board. They are projects the locals wanted."
The funding for Coastal Region projects, which includes Bryan County, would be provided by a new 1 percent sales tax in the 10-county region that voters will decide in July. If approved, taxes would be collected beginning in January 2013, Saxon said.
The project list for the Coastal Region was approved in September by a regional roundtable. Regional roundtables from the 11 other regions in the state also approved final lists late last year.
If approved by voters, the referendum, sometimes referred to as a TSPLOST, or transportation special local option sales tax, would generate billions of dollars around the state - including around $1.6 billion in the Coastal Region - for roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure projects.

Read entire story in Wednesday's Bryan County News.