The Furys Ferry Road widening began in April 2021, when Columbia County signed the contract, and it is now in its last stretch. The finish date has moved more than once, though. In August, county officials told WFXG they tentatively expect it to be done by the end of 2026, with no firm date and a chance it runs into 2027.
The roadwork on the north side of Evans isn't ending when Furys Ferry does. The Hardy McManus Road widening runs from William Few Parkway to State Route 28, which is Furys Ferry Road. It meets Furys Ferry at the same roundabout that opened this spring, and it has years of work left. The orange barrels are moving one road over, not going away.
How the Furys Ferry Finish Line Kept Moving
Furys Ferry Road was one lane in each direction, and the project widens it to four lanes. It's funded through the Transportation Investment Act, Georgia's regional transportation sales tax program. The TIA project record defines the segment as SR 28 from the South Carolina line to Evans to Locks Road and lists an original budget of $50,210,984. According to WFXG, about 39,000 vehicles a day use the road's intersection with Evans to Locks Road.
Here's how the project's milestones and target dates have been reported this year:
| When | What was reported | Outlet |
|---|---|---|
| April 2021 | Widening contract signed, construction begins | WFXG |
| January 2026 | Project expected to finish in six months | WRDW |
| February 2026 | Crews finishing sidewalk work | WJBF |
| March 2026 | Roundabout at Furys Ferry and Hardy McManus opens | WRDW |
| July 29, 2026 | New signal at Blackstone Camp Road enters flash mode | WFXG |
| August 2026 | Officials hope to finish by year-end, possibly 2027 | WRDW, WFXG |
| Oct. 18–23, 2026 | Overnight lane closures on two segments | The Augusta Press |
The July 2026 target from January came and went. The year-end target from August is still described as a hope. A Furys Ferry resident told WFXG that the project was originally expected to take about four years and said "a little more transparency would be nice."
What's Still Happening on the Corridor This Month
The most recent work is at night. The Augusta Press reported that E.R. Snell, the contractor, scheduled intermittent lane closures from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. on two stretches. One ran from Hardy McManus Road to Evans to Locks Road, Oct. 18 through 23. The other ran from Hardy McManus Road to the Savannah River, Oct. 19 through 22.
Then on Oct. 25, The Augusta Press warned of temporary lane closures on both Washington Road and Furys Ferry Road over the following two weeks, from a mix of utility work and road construction. That two-week window runs into this week. If you leave early in the morning or drive home late along either road, expect some stop-and-go.
Some of the finished pieces are already open. The roundabout at Furys Ferry and Hardy McManus opened in late March, according to WRDW. Before it opened, WFXG reported traffic backed up in every direction while crews worked on it. Farther along, a traffic signal replaced the four-way stop at Blackstone Camp Road in early August. WRDW reported it was meant to improve access to Colony Drive and make the intersection safer.
In January, Columbia County engineer Kyle Titus described the last tasks to WRDW: "We're finishing sidewalks, we're finishing curb and gutter, we're finishing a lot of paving." Ten months later the same corridor still has lane closures, so that last stage has taken longer than "six months" suggested.
The Roundabout Is Also Where Hardy McManus Ends
On a map, the March roundabout reads as Furys Ferry's finish line. It's also the eastern end of the next project, already under construction. The TIA project record for Hardy McManus Road lists it as a TIA 2 project in Columbia County, now under construction, with an original TIA budget of $32,321,191. When commissioners approved it, WRDW called the full project a $38 million job. A Columbia County Public Works and Engineering Services agenda from May 2025 lists the construction contract with Reeves Construction Co.
Here's what the design adds, based on what Titus told WRDW in May 2025 and the TIA scope:
- Three lanes instead of two, with right-turn lanes at selected spots
- Three new roundabouts, at Dolphin Way, Aylesbury Drive and Halali Farms Road
- A five-foot sidewalk on the north side
- A ten-foot multi-use path on the south side
- Lighting along the pedestrian corridor and at selected intersections
Titus told WRDW the roundabouts "aren't for looks." The county uses them to ease congestion and cut down on crashes caused by left turns.
The roundabout at Furys Ferry gives drivers a preview. Hardy McManus will have three more like it to the west, between William Few Parkway and SR 28.
Why Hardy McManus Gets Three Lanes, Not Five
Three lanes was a deliberate choice. In the same January WRDW interview about Furys Ferry, Titus described how the county sizes its roads. "If you ask our traffic department, they would probably agree that we want every road in the county to be 5 lanes," he said. "But the challenge with that is if the growth never comes, if it's promised, we build and it never comes, then we've built a bridge to nowhere. So we're always walking that fine line."
Hardy McManus comes out at three lanes plus roundabouts, a smaller design than Furys Ferry's four lanes. A center lane and roundabouts handle turning traffic without building a wider road than the growth on that corridor may need.
How Long the Second Project Is Expected to Take
The county's 2025 timeline is easy to reconstruct. Commissioners approved the Hardy McManus project on June 3, 2025. WRDW reported that work would start around Aug. 1 and take about three and a half years, or four and a half if weather caused delays. Counting from that August 2025 start, that's early 2029 in a normal schedule and early 2030 with weather delays. The TIA project page doesn't list a completion date yet.
In January, WRDW reported that the Hardy McManus project had recently started, with crews still clearing land. In 2025, the county said no detours were planned, and drivers would keep using their usual route while crews worked.
Furys Ferry gives some context for those dates. Its contract was signed in April 2021, and it is still finishing in late 2026. A three-and-a-half-year estimate for Hardy McManus is the county's planning number, and the five-year Furys Ferry project shows how much extra time the last stage can take.
What the Finished North Side Looks Like
Once both projects are done, north Evans will have a four-lane Furys Ferry Road with new sidewalks, a signal at Blackstone Camp Road and a roundabout at Hardy McManus. From there, Hardy McManus will run west to William Few Parkway with three lanes, three more roundabouts, a sidewalk on one side and a ten-foot multi-use path on the other. That's a walkable, lit route on the south side of Hardy McManus that the road doesn't have now.
Until then, the timing is simple. Furys Ferry's closures should taper off sometime between this winter and 2027, depending on how the final paving goes. Hardy McManus construction will keep going after that, with completion expected around 2029 if the county's 2025 estimate holds.
If you're planning a home sale along either corridor, or trying to decide whether a street off Hardy McManus fits your commute for the next few years, I'm glad to talk through what this construction means for your plans. Reach out to Tara McNaylor, and let's connect.
