Harbor Club's entrance sits on two timelines at once. The Georgia Department of Transportation is widening Lake Oconee Parkway to four lanes, and the phase that runs past Club Drive has a current completion date of August 2030. Greene County has also rezoned the farmland around the Richland Connector for Richland Crossing, a mixed-use project whose regional review lists an estimated completion year of 2035.
Each project has a published schedule. The intersection where the two meet does not have a settled design. GDOT's plan treats Club Drive as a median break. The developer's own traffic study points toward a signal. Both documents are public, and you can follow how the intersection gets decided over the next few years.
The Road Crew Reached Club Drive First
Phase 2 of the SR 44 widening, GDOT project PI 0019697, covers Lake Oconee Parkway from Carey Station Road to south of King Drive in Greene County. Lake Oconee News reported on July 30 that Pittman Construction Company had started work the week before. Crews were clearing the west side of the highway "from the Richland Connector down past Harbor Club." The Eatonton Messenger's August 5 follow-up described the same stretch of clearing and said lane closures could come as crews moved along.
The clearing comes first. It makes room for erosion control and for moving utilities. Will Volk, GDOT's District 2 Communications Officer, told the paper:
"Expect to see clearing throughout the length of the project. It will be a very similar process to how Phase 1 started. Significant disruptions to traffic are not expected soon."
The first scheduled lane closures came in September. GDOT's SR 44 project hub listed single-lane closures near milepost 8 in Greene County for storm drain installation on September 16, 17 and 18, running from 9 a.m. into mid-afternoon. The listing doesn't say where milepost 8 sits relative to Club Drive, and no later report confirms how those days went. The hub's lane-closure table is still the best place to check before a weekday drive.
GDOT estimates 18 to 24 months of construction for Phase 1, 40 to 48 months for Phase 2 and 52 to 60 months for Phase 3. It says the differences come mostly from how long utility relocation takes in each section.
| Phase | Limits on SR 44 | Status | Current schedule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phase 1, PI 0019696 | South of King Drive to the East Greensboro Bypass | Under construction | Completion November 2028 |
| Phase 2, PI 0019697 | Carey Station Road to south of King Drive, past Harbor Club | Under construction since July 2026 | Completion August 2030 |
| Phase 3, PI 0006253 | Harmony Road/Phoenix Road to Carey Station Road | Final design | Contractor bidding moved to May 2027 |
The full project runs about 10.5 miles from Old Phoenix Road/Harmony Road to Athens Tech Drive, just north of I-20. In urban sections, the finished road gets 4-foot bike lanes, 5-foot sidewalks and a 16-foot raised median. Rural sections get 6-foot paved shoulders and either a 32-foot depressed median or a 24-foot raised one. GDOT says Phase 2 landscaping plans are being developed with input from the counties.
Seven Roundabouts on the Parkway, None of Them at Club Drive
GDOT's stated reason for the project helps explain the intersection designs. In 2018, average daily traffic at counting stations along this corridor ranged from 11,000 to 15,900 vehicles, which GDOT rates as level of service "D" for a two-lane road. Of the 836 crashes in the project area from 2018 to 2023, GDOT counts 714, or 85 percent, as intersection-related.
GDOT's answer at the intersections is mostly roundabouts. Citizens agreed to one at Linger Longer Road at a February 2021 meeting. GDOT then reviewed more intersections in Phases 2 and 3 and now lists seven roundabouts in total:
- Harmony Plaza/Lake Country Village, Putnam County
- Scott Road/Lake Pointe Drive, Putnam County
- Merchant Street, Greene County
- Linger Longer Road/Westend Park, Greene County
- Carriage Lane/Airabella Boulevard, Greene County
- Carey Station Road, Greene County
- Richland Connector, Greene County
Two of those, Richland Connector and Carey Station Road, are the Phase 2 intersections on either side of Harbor Club's entrance. GDOT labels all seven designs as drafts. It also says the drafts don't show the final impacts or how much right of way each intersection will need. On rural stretches, GDOT prefers median openings about 1,320 feet apart. The posted speed on rural sections stays at 55 mph, with 45 mph near Reynolds and the I-20 interchange.
Club Drive itself is not on the roundabout list. At an August 26, 2025 meeting of the Greene County Planning and Zoning board, a developer's representative said that "Club Dr only has a median break in the current GDOT widening plan." None of the public GDOT material we reviewed spells out turn lanes or U-turn provisions at Club Drive beyond that.
What the Zoning Votes Put Along the Richland Connector
The developer's representative made that comment because of the land around the entrance. Rick McAllister, acting for Jesse Copelan Jr. and Kaye M. Copelan, brought a set of rezonings for Copelan family land near Club Drive, Wrightsville Church Road and the Richland Connector. McAllister told the board that the Copelans had provided access on Club Drive back in the 1980s, donated property for the Richland Connector, and more recently donated land for the Wrightsville Church Road extension.
The votes came in two rounds:
- June 10, 2025: The Greene County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a 22.50-acre rezoning on Club Drive from agricultural to B1 commercial. One condition is a 50-foot vegetative buffer along Club Drive and Wrightsville Church Road.
- September 9, 2025: The board unanimously approved three larger rezonings. Those were 95.31 acres on Wrightsville Church Road to multifamily residential, 96.20 acres on Lake Oconee Parkway to B2 commercial, and 162.10 acres on Lake Oconee Parkway to multifamily residential.
The Northeast Georgia Regional Commission reviewed the project as Development of Regional Impact #4509 under the name Richland Crossing. The report describes 1,408 housing units, a mix of detached homes, townhomes and apartments, plus 774,000 square feet of commercial space on about 388 acres on the east and west sides of 4381 Lake Oconee Parkway. The commercial plan includes a supermarket, two sit-down restaurants, a fast-food restaurant, a medical office building, two general office buildings, a shopping center, a gas station with 12 fueling positions and a warehouse. The development would have 14 connections to Lake Oconee Parkway, the Richland Connector and Wrightsville Church Road, with an estimated completion in 2035. McAllister told the planning board the development would not be gated, and its proposed walking trails would be open to the public.
At that August 2025 meeting, the planning board recommended conditions for the 95.31-acre parcel. They included a 100-foot buffer along Club Drive, no project entrance or exit on Club Drive, and a cap of 630 multifamily units. The September 9 commission minutes record the approvals but don't restate those recommended conditions. The minutes alone don't show which conditions became binding.
The Intersection Both Plans Leave Open
The road and the development were planned on separate tracks, and they come together at Club Drive. GDOT's widening plan shows a median break there. McAllister told the planning board the project "would prove that this isn't adequate, and a light would be required." He explained that GDOT requires the rezoning first, then warrant studies, before it approves access points. The DRI traffic analysis recommends a signal at SR 44 and Club Drive only "if warranted by GDOT." It also calls for protected/permissive left-turn phases and a separate westbound left-turn lane on Club Drive.
The public records behind this post run through the county's September 2025 votes and the DRI report, and none of them records a GDOT decision on a Club Drive signal or a construction start at Richland Crossing. Under the sequence McAllister described, the Club Drive design depends on a GDOT warrant study. McAllister also said timing depends on GDOT's schedule, which is out of the developer's control, and that he planned to "dove tail with GDOT's work in the area so as to minimize traffic inconveniences."
Errands Run South Through a Section That Hasn't Started Yet
South of Carey Station Road, Phase 3 hasn't started construction. GDOT moved contractor bidding to May 2027 because it needs more time to acquire right of way. In July, bidding had been expected in December.
At the southern end, a new Publix is coming to the Lake Country Village/Towne Center development in Putnam County. As of Lake Oconee News' September 17 report, Publix had not announced an opening date. The paper said sources indicated a possible mid-November opening, but that is not confirmed. A walk-in hiring event for the store was held September 11 and 12 at the existing Lake Oconee Village Publix. That store remains open at 6350 Lake Oconee Parkway, Suite 106, in Greensboro.
GDOT prepared for the new store by installing a traffic signal at Lake Oconee Parkway where the Publix entrance on the east side meets Harmony Crossing on the west. Activation was pushed back to September 22 to allow time for permanent striping. We have not found a report confirming the signal went live. The light is temporary. When the widening reaches that end of the corridor, the intersection becomes the Harmony Plaza/Lake Country Village roundabout.
Here are the dates on the record for the corridor outside Harbor Club, in order:
- Mid-November 2026: possible Lake Country Village Publix opening, unconfirmed
- May 2027: contractor bidding for Phase 3
- November 2028: current Phase 1 completion date
- August 2030: current Phase 2 completion date, covering the stretch past Club Drive
- 2035: estimated Richland Crossing completion in the regional DRI report
Our team at Boatright Realty Group follows Greene County agendas and GDOT's SR 44 updates because Club Drive is the way in and out for so many of our Harbor Club neighbors. If a warrant study, a signal decision or a Richland Crossing site plan comes up, we'll share what it means for the drive home. Contact us. Let's find your Lake Oconee home.
