By Daniel Evans

Portions of South Davis Road will be closed to through traffic starting Monday because of construction at the intersection of Davis Road with Tom Hall Parkway.

The construction is expected to take an estimated nine weeks, according to county engineer James Emery. South Davis Road will be closed between Whitesville Road, or state route 219, and Hamilton Road, or state route 1/U.S. 27.

“We have tried to keep the public’s inconvenience to a minimum, in terms of the length of time it’s got to be closed,” said James Emery, the county engineer. “We’ve made extra effort to try to minimize the amount of time it has to be closed.”

Any businesses affected by the construction can be accessed via Whitesville Road.

Emery said the project will cost an estimated $5.5 million dollars, using primarily special-purpose local-option sales tax (SPLOST) funding. Developer Selig Enterprises Inc., and the city of LaGrange, will also play a role. The city of LaGrange’s share is for utilities that are reimbursed through a special utility service district, Emery said.

Selig Enterprises, an Atlanta based developer, announced in July that it is planning to build a 500-acre shopping center with homes, restaurants, hotels and offices next door to the upcoming Great Wolf Lodge.

Emery said the project has been in the works since around 2006, when it was first brought up.

“It’s got a lot of great benefits to the developer so that they were able to develop the Great Wolf Lodge, but it’s also a valuable thing in our bypass system that we had planned many, many years before the developer was ever involved, before the property was even considered for development,” Emery said.

The detour during the closure will take drivers down Lukken Industrial Drive.