Georgia State Route 540

2010s

Between 2011 and 2013, SR 243 was extended southward as a western bypass of Gordon. The highway's final 9-mile-long (14 km) section of new roadway between SR 24 and US 441 south of Milledgeville in Baldwin and Wilkinson counties, as well of the 16-mile-long (26 km) widening of SR 24 to the Sandersville bypass, was awarded to Balfour Beatty Infrastructure, Inc. of Fleming Island, Florida in January 2013. It appears as though GDOT has delayed plans to address the highway's passage through the city of Wrens, where it reduces to a two-lane road through downtown with a center turn lane. According to GDOT's GRIP maps, the section through Wrens is considered complete. Other documents suggest that GDOT has entertained the idea of a Wrens bypass, however. The highway was estimated to cost $75.3 million. Between 2013 and 2015, a new road was built from SR 243 north-northeast of Ivey to US 441/SR 29 south-southeast of Scottsboro. The segment between the Scottsboro and Sandersville areas was completed and opened to traffic in October 2016. In 2016, the new portion of highway was extended to SR 24 southeast of Milledgeville, and SR 243 was extended on it. Between August 2017 and July 2018, the highway was completed. GDOT announced to the public that the highway was officially signed as Georgia State Route 540 on September 24, 2018. In October 2018, GDOT began installing SR 540 shields in Columbus.