Savannah has received an $11.3 million federal grant for Project DeRenne, moving the long-planned changes to the I-516 and DeRenne Avenue corridor another step forward.
The funding will help pay for acquiring property needed for the project before road construction can begin. The main piece is a new four-lane divided connector linking a rebuilt I-516 interchange with a realigned White Bluff Road.
Known as The Boulevard, the planned road would begin just west of Mildred Street and follow a widened Hampstead Avenue. It would include a shared-use path, with sections of the roadway elevated over the reconfigured access to Hunter Army Airfield and the I-516 and DeRenne Avenue intersection.
The corridor carries local commuters as well as freight traffic and serves as a hurricane evacuation route. Storm-culvert improvements are also included in the project receiving the grant.
Project DeRenne began in 2008 and includes more than the new connector. Other planned improvements would change intersections and access along DeRenne Avenue, add pedestrian accommodations and create a parallel bicycle route along DeRenne Drive between Abercorn Street and Truman Parkway.
A separate, city-funded West DeRenne Congestion Relief Project is aimed at more immediate traffic and safety improvements between Montgomery Street and White Bluff Road. That work is distinct from the larger Boulevard connector.
The new grant does not mean construction on The Boulevard is starting right away. Project DeRenne remains in its environmental-review phase, with final design and construction still to follow. Environmental approval is currently expected in 2027, and no construction start date for the connector has been announced.
Image: Georgia Department of Transportation planning map dated April 23, 2013. Shown for historical route context, not as a current construction drawing.
