Georgia State Route 40 - History

History

SR 40 was assigned to the highway from Folkston to St. Marys via Kingsland by 1920. However, the route from Folkston to what became US 17/SR 25 in Kingsland was not marked on maps between 1921 and January 1932. The highway that was to become SR 40 followed most of its present alignment from Folkston to the Charlton–Camden county line in 1919 but had a significantly different route in western Camden County, following what are now Colerain Road, Forestry Road, Marr Cemetery Road, Oakhill Church Road, Willies Loop, Old Folkston Road, Arizona Avenue, and several sections of abandoned highway. East of Kingsland, the highway followed most of its present alignment but crossed the parallel railroad several times.

By 1926, the Kingsland–St. Marys highway was a sand or dirt road. When the Folkston–Kingsland stretch of SR 40 reappeared on maps in February 1932, the highway was recorded as an unimproved but maintained road. SR 40 was under construction along its present alignment from US 17 in Kingsland to the south end of Osborne Street in St. Marys by October 1934; the highway was completed as a paved road by January 1936. The highway from Folkston to the Charlton–Camden county line was under construction by October 1936. The construction was extended east from the county line to the highway's original SR 110 junction in July 1937. When construction concluded in October 1937, there was a paved highway from Folkston to the county line and a graded but otherwise unimproved highway from there to SR 110. SR 40 between Colerain and the western edge of Kingsland was under construction by July 1939 and paving was completed in January 1941. The gap in Kingsland was placed under construction by April 1941 but was not completed until the beginning of 1943.

The first major rerouting of SR 40 occurred between 1963 and 1966 when the highway was moved to its present alignment between the Charlton–Camden county line and Kingsland. By 1982, the highway had been expanded to a divided highway around its interchange with I-95 and to a four-lane undivided highway from there to St. Marys. The divided highway section was extended west toward downtown Kingsland in 1984. SR 40's interchange with St. Marys Road was built and the highway was expanded to a divided highway from Kings Bay Road to SR 40 Spur by 1986.. The entire length of the highway was designated a Governor's Road Improvement Program (GRIP) corridor in 1989. GDOT plans to expand the entire highway west of I-95 to a four-lane divided highway. The first new section of the highway to be expanded to a four-lane divided highway was the 2-mile (3.2 km) stretch west of the Charlton–Camden county line, which was completed in 2004.