VALDOSTA – Drivers who travel state Route 133 in Brooks County should be prepared for a change in the traffic pattern this afternoon as the contractor shifts vehicles onto newly-constructed lanes.

The shift will occur about 3,000 feet south of Pauline Church Road. This is so the contractor can reconstruct existing lanes.

The $28.2 million Georgia Department of Transportation project is widening/reconstructing 5.43 miles of SR 133 from Pauline Church Road to Old Quitman Adel Road. The completion date is Oct. 31, 2018 and the contractor is The Scruggs Co. of Hahira.

Georgia DOT is widening/reconstructing SR 133 between Valdosta and Albany. Two sections have been completed and three others have been let or are under construction. The remaining projects are in the planning stages.

The SR 133 corridor is in the Governor’s Road Improvement Program (GRIP), a system of economic development highways that, when complete, will connect 95 percent of Georgia cities with populations of 2,500 or more to the Interstate Highway System. It will also place 98 percent of Georgia’s population within 20 miles of a four-lane road.