Intersection on Highway 21 coming near Rice Hope neighborhood, part of Commerce Center construction

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. (WTOC) - City of Port Wentworth leaders gathered with developers at the site of the new Port Wentworth Commerce Center, which will feature a new intersection with traffic signals for the thousands of Georgia Highway 21 drivers.

The Port Wentworth Commerce Center, a master-planned, 10-million-square-foot business park, will soon bring jobs and new business to the region, but improving the safety of the major intersection came first.

The traffic lights and turn lanes that will be completed in 2026 are a $6 million private investment.

“It is desperately needed and in the next six months we should have a light here and not just for the calming and the regulating, but it’s a life-saving matter because people are taking their lives in their hands by shooting out here,” said Port Wentworth City Manager Steve Davis.

Drivers going north and south, every morning and night, are going 55 mph with no traffic signals at all.

“Y’all know how dangerous this highway is out here, how many wrecks we have throughout the years, and a lot of people have been hurt on this road. This is going to change the way it happens here,” said Port Wentworth Mayor Gary Norton.

Mayor Pro Tem Gabrielle Nelson added it’s a blessing as many, many people use Highway 21 to get to work, home, or to Interstate 95.

“While we still have a few years ahead of us on the already approved widening of Highway 21 through GDOT (The Georgia Department of Transportation), traffic enhancement will make for much smoother daily travel in the months ahead,” she said. “It’s a step in the right direction, and one thing that it brings is immediate relief while we continue preparing for long-term solutions.”

However, the intersection is just a part of the broader project. Improvements for the millions of square feet park will include water and sewage management, stormwater maintenance, and fiber operations needed to ensure a commerce center is complete.

In total, it’s about $1 billion in investments to Port Wentworth, according to Davis.

“Job creation and opportunities for our residents,” he said. “Not just during construction, but when the facilities open, so it’s really a great opportunity for us on every front.”

A big factor, according to the developers, is the location of a commerce center near the ports. Which is 6.5 miles up the road.

Wes Hardy with Dermody, a national real estate investment, development, and management firm, said, “An aspiration for this project is to create the single-best business park on the East Coast of the United States, and I believe we’re going to do that because we’ve got a team in place that is going to allow us to do that.”