The Georgia Department of Transportation's Moultrie office and a local contractor have received state and national recognition for resurfacing projects that greatly improved two Thomas County state routes.

Motorists may have noticed that resurfaced SR 3 and SR 38 in Thomas County ride much smoother. State and national awards quantify the improvement with a number – the ride quality of both routes increased at least 57%.

The projects were handled by the Department's area office in Moultrie, which oversees operations in Brooks, Colquitt, Cook, Grady, Thomas and Tift counties. Construction Project Manager Michael Sumner supervised the projects and the contractor was The Scruggs Co. of Hahira.

It was Sumner's job to monitor the quality of the projects and to make sure the contractor adhered to Georgia DOT procedures.

"Michael is a valuable asset to our office and has developed a good, professional relationship with our contractors, which is what it takes to achieve work of this caliber," Area Engineer Neil Tyson said.

The same Scruggs paving crew was on both projects, Tyson said, and the paving foreman is "very meticulous in making sure his crew gets the job done."

The resurfacing of 84.4 lane miles (the total distance of all lanes in both directions) on US 19/SR 3 from south of Woodruff Farm Road to the Mitchell County line earned a Department Pavement Smoothness award. The project had the best ride results in the state for fiscal year 2016-2017. The final overall smoothness of the route resulted in a 58% improvement in ride quality.

Scruggs put down 19,038 tons of leveling mix to fill the uneven spots in the roadway, such as ruts, cracks and other road damage. Leveling acts as a base so that the paving mix topping adheres to a flat, even surface. This job took 76,297 tons of paving mix. The project was completed in February and the cost was $8.2 million.

The resurfacing of 39.6 lane miles on SR 38 from west of Crabapple Road to the Brooks County line won a National Asphalt Paving Association 2016 Quality in Construction Award. The area office recently received the award plaque. This was the only Georgia NAPA award given to a project south of the Metro Atlanta area.

Resurfacing improved the road's ride quality by 57.5%. The job required 8,674 tons of leveling and 32,444 tons of paving mix. The project was finished in October 2015 and the construction cost was $3.4 million.