SMYRNA, Georgia — City officials here have authorized $336,840 for Marietta-based Croy Engineering to manage the day-to-day construction and inspection for the never-ending Windy Hill Boulevard Project.
The contract runs through December 2025 and will be funded from 2016 SPLOST proceeds. It will cover the cost of a senior professional and a construction manager, accrued on an hourly basis.
“The Windy Hill Boulevard Project has required additional time and resources, and City staff is not able to provide the dedicated time and effort the project needs for proper management and inspection,” according to an issue sheet for the mayor and council. “Therefore, the City would like to re-enter into a contract with Croy Engineering to allow them to manage the day-to-day construction and inspection for this project.”
The Windy Hill Boulevard project between South Cobb Drive and Atlanta Road includes widening, addition of medians, intersection and pedestrian improvements.
During his State of the City address in July 2023, Mayor Derek Norton described the project as by in as “the gift that just keeps on taking.”
“Started by the last administration [of former Mayor Max Bacon], this project has been, I think we’d all agree, a nightmare of increased costs, extended timelines and inconvenience,” Norton said at the time before announcing “good news.”
At that time, he said that according to the contractor’s updated schedule, the project would be completed by July 2024. However, in his July 2024 State of the City address, Norton referred to the Windy Hill project as a “nightmare” with “increased costs.”
“And the timelines for various reasons have continued to be extended again and again and again,” the mayor said in 2024. “I’m so hesitant tonight to tell you the latest for fear that the goalposts move on me again, but I’m told the latest update from the contractor is that the project will be completely finished by the end of this year [2024].”
“And whatever anybody thinks about the merits of the project, despite the hardships we’ve all endured through the lengthy construction process and whether or not it’s all worth it, the finished roadway will allow traffic to flow through the corridor from South Cobb Drive to Atlanta Road while maintaining local access roads, to help serve the Smyrna businesses located there, and will hopefully — hopefully — be transformative for that northern stretch of our city,” Norton added.
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