Winder Works

What’s Going On With Winder’s Roads? A Q&A with City Engineer Gerard Brewer

Episode Summary

Ever wonder who decides which streets get paved—or why that traffic light never seems to be in sync? In this episode, Winder City Engineer Gerard Brewer pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to keep a city running. From potholes to pavement condition scores, from drainage to development, Gerard explains how the engineering team is tackling Winder’s aging roads, explosive growth, and limited resources—all while staying laser-focused on getting the most value for your tax dollars.

Episode Notes

In this episode, you'll also learn:

• Why Broad Street and Main Street aren’t maintained by the city (and who actually runs Winder’s traffic lights—spoiler: not us). 
• How the city decides which roads to patch, overlay, or fully repave using a cost-per-square-yard approach.
• The power of public input in shaping the Transportation Improvement Plan—and how it helps Winder secure grants and influence GDOT.
• Why zero of Winder’s traffic signals are under local control—and what the city is doing to change that.
• What goes into a $1.4 million paving request—and how thousands of man-hours get invested before a single dollar is spent.
• How Winder’s engineers walk every street, patch-by-patch, to make data-driven decisions for long-term infrastructure success.

If you've ever hit a pothole and thought, "Why doesn’t the city fix this?"—this episode is for you.