The University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens announced plans in late January 2025 for a comprehensive $115.7 million renovation of Creswell Hall, one of the campus's landmark residence halls.

UGA Today, an online campus news source, noted that the project is scheduled to take place in 2027 and 2028 and will modernize the 62-year-old building on Baxter Street. In addition, the university wants to enhance the living experience for students while maintaining the building's role as a cornerstone of campus housing.

UGA officials believe the renovation represents a fiscally responsible approach, saving an estimated $54 million compared with replacement costs that helps preserve University Housing reserve funds for future projects.

"We're excited to offer more than 900 updated and modernized spaces to future students through this renovation," said Linda Kasper, executive director of University Housing. "We know from our renovations of Brumby and Russell halls that students appreciate increased bathroom privacy and updated amenities, which we will continue to offer as we renovate Creswell."

The extensive overhaul of Creswell Hall will include:

• complete overhaul of its mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems;

• enhanced community bathrooms with improved privacy features;

• upgraded elevators and improved ADA accessibility;

• modern shared spaces, including floor kitchenettes and a larger community kitchen;

• innovative laundry facilities that will double as student lounge areas;

• redesigned double rooms featuring natural light and adjustable furniture; and

• number of exterior maintenance and improvements, including new windows and aesthetic modernization.

The project will begin with exploratory work in summer 2025, noted UGA Today, with full construction commencing in May 2027. The renovation follows similar successful projects at Russell and Brumby Halls, reflecting UGA's strategic approach to modernizing student housing.

While Creswell Hall is among the better-known dormitories on the Georgia campus, the origin of its name is likely less well known today than it was in 1963 when its doors first opened to students.

The UGA dormitory is named after Mary Ethel Creswell, the first woman to receive a bachelor's degree from university in 1919. The nine-story high-rise building was originally opened as a residence hall for women.

Creswell Hall currently has 958 beds, but the renovations will lower that number to 924 beds, according to the Athens Banner-Herald in a Feb. 9 article.

Interstate 75 Interchange in Tift County to Be Readjusted

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is planning renovations for the interchange of Interstate 75 at Chula Brookfield Road in southern Georgia's Tift County, the Tifton Gazette reported Feb. 7.

Plans by the state agency for expanding and modernizing the overpass and interchange are currently in preconstruction as part of several projects being pursued by GDOT through the state's Transportation Investment Act (TIA).

William Eastin, regional coordinator of the TIA, told the Gazette that the interchange will be widened and extended to accommodate an I-75 widening project from several years ago that expanded the highway from four lanes to six, but failed to modify the interchanges or overpasses.

In addition, he said that the previous work had brought the outside lanes too close to the barriers, walls and columns of bridges, overpasses and interchanges, which the current project would seek to rectify and create an adequate clear zone.

Crews also will replace the overpass carrying Chula Brookfield Road across I-75, modernize the interchange by extending the exit and entrance lanes branching off from the freeway to give drivers exiting onto the secondary road more time to safely slow down, as well as providing those motorists accessing the interstate additional seconds to safely get up to speed, Eastin said.

Currently, a review of the preliminary field plan for the project has been conducted, and the initial right-of-way procedure has been approved.

Eastin estimated that the construction effort would total approximately $17.5 million and be funded through regional TSPLOST and state construction funds. A let date, in which GDOT would award the bid to a suitable contractor, is tentatively set for December 2027.