SOUTH FORSYTH — Upcoming road projects could bring relief to some of Forsyth County’s traffic woes. During a recent work session, the Forsyth County commission approved several road projects tied to the $200 million transportation bond that voters approved in the fall. Perhaps most notably, commissioners approved moving forward with four phases of the Old Atlanta Road widening project in south Forsyth. For the second and third phases, the commission approved construction contracts with Vertical Earth of Cumming. The bids totaled an estimated $5.7 million for the second phase and about $6.5 million for the third.“Phase two is from Sharon Road to Nichols Road and phase three is from St. Marlo [Country Club Parkway] to McGinnis Ferry [Road],” said John Cunard, the county’s engineering director.“It’ll generally take 60 days from the time the board awards until the contractor will be able to go to construction, but it’s really up to the contractor.” According to Cunard, work on those two phases will occur at the same time, with the completion date for both likely in May 2016. The commission also awarded the bid to handle additional right-of-way services and negotiations for the final two phases (fourth and fifth) of the Old Atlanta project. The contract, which is to not exceed $108,000, went to Moreland Altobelli of Norcross.“Phases four and five finish up the project between St. Marlo and James Burgess Road,” Cunard said. According to Cunard, those parts of the project will be paid for with funds from the current 1-cent sales tax program, adding that it wouldn’t have been possible to do all of the projects without the transportation bond.“When we put the bond out, we put all the outstanding funding on SPLOST projects on the bond project so we could finish everything out,” he said. “That funded phase five, so now we’re able to move ahead and acquire right of way on phases four and five.” In addition, splitting the project into five phases initially made it easier to fund “because they were being funded at different times or some phases didn’t have funding available,” Cunard said. The commission also approved several other road projects during the work session, including awarding about $909,000 to Pond and Company for engineering services on the final two stretches of Ronald Reagan Parkway.“We’re combining them together as one project,” Cunard said. “The two remaining segments of Ronald Reagan are finishing up south of Majors Road to Shiloh, then from Shiloh to McFarland.” Bids were also awarded for work projects on Highways 369 and 371. Engineering and design services for Hwy. 371, also known as Post Road, will be handled by Tylin International of Atlanta, and the bid totaled about $1.3 million. The project will widen the road between Hwy. 9 to Kelly Mill Road. Engineering services for the Hwy. 369 project was awarded to American Engineering, Inc., at more than $566,000. The plan is to widen the corridor between Hwys. 9 and 306, except for the Ga. 400 crossing. Moreland Altobelli was also awarded a contract totaling about $395,000 for design and engineering services for a project to widen Pilgrim Mill Road from the Cumming city limits to Freedom Parkway.