Aug. 3 is the deadline to submit subcontractor bids to help construct Georgia's newest veterans' cemetery near Augusta.
Plans have changed for the long-proposed cemetery on state property near the Gracewood campus of East Central Regional Hospital, according to drawings detailing the current site layout and suggested changes for the first phase of construction.
The new cemetery entrance has moved from Tobacco Road to a small curve on Byrd Road near where it crosses a Norfolk Southern Railroad line hugging one side of the property. Gracewood has about 200 feet of Byrd frontage.
Buildings and sections of paved roads on the property will be demolished to make way for
a new road system leading to a new administration building and burial sections on either side of a ceremonial courtyard.
Across the road from the courtyard will sit a memorial wall and a columbarium, an above-ground interment structure where niches can hold cremated remains. The columbarium will overlook a small duck pond on the property that will be retained during construction.
A roundabout in the cemetery will surround a carillon, a tower with chromatically tuned bells that can be played with a musical keyboard.
The first phase also includes an onsite sod farm so groundskeepers can quickly cover gravesites with turf instead of bare soil.
The project is receiving up to $10 million in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ State Cemetery Grants Program.
Representatives of the Georgia Department of Veterans Services and site designer 2KM Architects updated the Augusta Commission in May about the proposed timeline for construction.
With the project now put out to bid, developers hope to break ground by the end of 2026 and open the cemetery in 2028.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: If timeline holds, new Augusta veterans' cemetery could open in 2028
