East Georgia | |
---|---|
Region | |
Country | United States |
State | Georgia |
Largest city | Augusta |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 479,864 |
Demonym | East Georgian |
Website | georgia |
East Georgia is a thirteen-county region in the U.S. state of Georgia, bordering South Carolina. North of Coastal Georgia and the Lower Coastal Plain, [1] part of the region lies in the Fall Line section of the state. The largest county by population in East Georgia is Richmond County, and its most populous city is Augusta, anchoring the Augusta metropolitan statistical area. Tabulating the region's counties, its population as of the 2020 U.S. census was 479,864.
Lying within the Fall Line area of Georgia, the region borders South Carolina. According to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, East Georgia is made up of the following counties: Burke, Columbia, Glascock, Hancock, Jefferson, Jenkins, Lincoln, McDuffie, Richmond, Taliaferro, Warren, Washington, and Wilkes. [1]
As of the 2020 U.S. census, the counties comprising East Georgia had a total resident population of 479,864. Among these counties, non-Hispanic whites and African Americans were the predominant racial and ethnic groups present in East Georgia, in common with the remainder of the state.
Religiously, East Georgia is within the Bible Belt, and Christianity has been the predominant religion since the colonial era. According to a study by the Association of Religion Data Archives in 2020, Protestantism was the largest collective Christian group, and Baptists were the largest Protestant tradition in the region. Non- or inter-denominational Protestants formed the second-largest Protestant tradition, followed by Methodists. Catholicism was the region's largest non-Protestant Christian group. [2]
The single largest Christian denominations irrespective of traditional grouping were the Southern Baptist Convention, United Methodist Church, Catholic Church, National Baptist Convention of the United States of America, National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee). East Georgia also had a substantial population of Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints according to the same study.
In 2020, the largest non-Christian religions were Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, the Baha'i Faith, Sikhism, and Jainism according to the Association of Religion Data Archives. [2] Of its Buddhist communities, Theravada Buddhism was the largest branch practiced, and the region's Jewish communities were divided between Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism, Orthodox Judaism, and Chabad Judaism.
With an economy centered within the Augusta metropolis, its largest industries are medicine, biotechnology, cyber security, manufacturing, and education. Prominent employers and organizations throughout the region have been Augusta University, Augusta Technical College, Paine College, East Georgia State College and Georgia Military College, the Richmond County School System, Savannah River Site, [3] Encompass Health Corporation, [4] T-Mobile, Teleperformance, and Coca-Cola. [5] Among the colleges and universities, Augusta University has made an economic impact of $2.24 billion and more than 21,000 jobs to the state's economy as of 2022. [6]
Air travel services are provided by the Augusta Regional Airport. Daniel Field is another airport servicing the East Georgia region. East Georgia is also served by two interstates and a multitude of U.S. Routes, listed below:
Augusta is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Georgia's third most populous city, Augusta is located in the Fall Line section of the state.
Interstate 520 (I-520) is a 23.34-mile (37.56 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway that encircles most of Augusta, Georgia, and North Augusta, South Carolina, as a three-quarter beltway around the western, southern, and eastern parts of the main part of the Augusta metropolitan area. It begins at I-20 and State Route 232 (SR 232) in the northern part of Augusta, Georgia, and ends at I-20 in the northern part of North Augusta, South Carolina. I-520 is also known as Bobby Jones Expressway and the Deputy James D. Paugh Memorial Highway in Georgia and Palmetto Parkway in South Carolina. On the Georgia side, the road also carries the internal designation State Route 415 (SR 415).
State Route 204 (SR 204) is a 32.4-mile-long (52.1 km) state highway in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It runs from a point east of Pembroke and ends in Savannah. Its routing is located within portions of Bryan and Chatham counties.
The Fall Line Freeway is a 215-mile-long (346 km) highway designed to span the width of the U.S. state of Georgia from Columbus at the Alabama state line to Augusta, travelling through several cities including Macon, Fort Valley, Sandersville, and Wrens. Though it is called a freeway, it is composed of both limited-access and high-speed divided highway portions. There are also two segments of the highway that are two lanes, separated by a center turn lane: a brief portion in west-central Washington County and another brief portion in northern Jefferson County. As of August 2018, the Fall Line Freeway is 100% open to traffic. Between August 2017 and July 2018, the highway was completed. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) announced that the highway was officially signed as SR 540 on September 24, 2018, as the newest state route in the state.
U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) in the U.S. state of Georgia, which is concurrent for almost its entire length with State Route 4 (SR 4), is a highway traversing south–north through portions of Charlton, Ware, Bacon, Appling, Toombs, Emanuel, Jefferson, and Richmond counties in the southeastern and east-central parts of the state. In Georgia, the highway originates at US 1/US 23/US 301/State Road 15 (SR 15) at the St. Marys River and the Florida state line, where SR 4 reach their southern terminus. It travels to the Savannah River at the South Carolina state line in Augusta where the route continues to North Augusta, South Carolina. Here, SR 10 reaches its eastern terminus.
U.S. Highway 17 (US 17) is a 124.20-mile-long (199.88 km) United States Numbered Highway in the U.S. state of Georgia. It travels south–north near the Atlantic Ocean, serving the Brunswick and Savannah metropolitan areas on its path from Florida at the St. Marys River to South Carolina at the Savannah River. Except for part of the highway in Savannah, which is concurrent with Interstate 16 and SR 404 Spur to the Talmadge Memorial Bridge to Hutchinson Island, US 17 is concurrent with SR 25. SR 25 uses an older western alignment of US 17 into South Carolina.
State Route 28 (SR 28) is a 25.7-mile-long (41.4 km) state highway in the U.S. state of Georgia. It exists in two distinct segments separated by the northern segment of South Carolina Highway 28 (SC 28), which connects the two segments. The southern segment is entirely within the Augusta metropolitan area. The northern segment is located in the northeastern corner of the Chattooga River District of the Chattahoochee–Oconee National Forest. SR 28 consists of Georgia's segments of a multi-state Route 28 that includes two segments of SC 28 and one segment of North Carolina Highway 28 (NC 28). The northern segment is a south-to-north highway and the roadway it uses is unnamed. However, the southern segment is a west-to-east highway, and the roads it uses are known as Furys Ferry Road from the Furys Ferry Bridge at the South Carolina state line to the intersection with SR 104 Conn. in Augusta, Washington Road in the northern part of Augusta, John C. Calhoun Expressway, Greene Street, 5th Street, and Broad Street in downtown Augusta, and Sand Bar Ferry Road in the northeastern part of Augusta.
State Route 49 (SR 49) is a 122.8-mile-long (197.6 km) state highway that travels southwest-to-northeast through portions of Terrell, Sumter, Macon, Peach, Houston, Bibb, Jones, and Baldwin counties, mainly in the central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. The highway connects SR 45 north of Dawson to SR 22/SR 24 in Milledgeville.
The Savannah River Parkway is a four-lane divided highway that roughly parallels the Savannah River in the U.S. state of Georgia, that exists in two distinct segments. The roadway is being considered for inclusion as part of Interstate 3 (I-3), which ultimately is planned to travel from Savannah to Knoxville, Tennessee.
State Route 56 (SR 56) is an inverted question mark-shaped state highway that travels south-to-north, with a western loop around Vidalia. It is 140.3-mile-long (225.8 km) and travels through portions of Tattnall, Toombs, Montgomery, Treutlen, Emanuel, Burke, and Richmond counties in the southeastern and east-central parts of the U.S. state of Georgia. The route connects the Reidsville and Augusta areas, via Swainsboro and Waynesboro.
In the US state of Georgia, Interstate 20 (I-20) travels from the Alabama state line to the Savannah River, which is the South Carolina state line. The highway enters the state near Tallapoosa. It travels through the Atlanta metropolitan area and exits the state in Augusta. The highway also travels through the cities of Bremen, Douglasville, Conyers, Covington, and Madison. I-20 has the unsigned state highway designation of State Route 402 (SR 402).
State Route 88 (SR 88) is a 53.2-mile-long (85.6 km) state highway that travels southwest-to-northeast through portions of Washington, Jefferson, Burke, and Richmond counties in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. The highway connects the Sandersville area with Hephzibah, via Wrens, with a brief portion in Augusta.
State Route 232 (SR 232) is a 14.3-mile-long (23.0 km) east–west state highway located in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Georgia. It travels through west-central Columbia County and northeastern Richmond County. At its western end, it is a fairly rural highway, but its eastern end is an urban corridor of the Augusta metropolitan area. It connects Appling with Evans, Martinez, and Augusta.
U.S. Route 78 (US 78) is a 233.3-mile-long (375.5 km) U.S. Highway in the U.S. state of Georgia. It travels west to east in the north-central part of the state, starting at the Alabama state line, west of Tallapoosa, where the roadway continues concurrent with the unsigned highway Alabama State Route 4. This is also the western terminus of Georgia State Route 8 (SR 8), which is concurrent with US 78 to the east. The highway serves the Atlanta, Athens, and Augusta metropolitan areas on its path from the Alabama state line to the South Carolina state line, at the Savannah River, on the northeastern edge of Augusta, where it continues concurrent with US 1/US 25/US 278/SC 121. This is also the eastern terminus of SR 10. US 78 travels through portions of Haralson, Carroll, Douglas, Cobb, Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Walton, Oconee, Clarke, Oglethorpe, Wilkes, McDuffie, Columbia, and Richmond counties.
U.S. Route 278 (US 278) in the U.S. state of Georgia is an east–west United States Highway traversing the north-central portion of the state. The highway travels from the Alabama state line near Esom Hill to the South Carolina state line where it crosses the Savannah River in the Augusta metropolitan area.
U.S. Highway 25 (US 25) is a United States Numbered Highway that travels from Brunswick, Georgia, to the Kentucky–Ohio state line, where Covington, Kentucky, meets Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Ohio River. In the U.S. state of Georgia, US 25 is as a 190.0-mile-long (305.8 km) highway that travels south to north in the eastern part of the state, near the Atlantic Ocean, serving Statesboro and the Brunswick and Augusta metropolitan areas on its path from Brunswick to South Carolina at the Savannah River. Its routing travels through portions of Glynn, Wayne, Long, Tattnall, Evans, Bulloch, Jenkins, Burke, and Richmond counties.
The Augusta metropolitan area, officially the Augusta-Richmond County metropolitan statistical area according to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Census Bureau and other agencies, is a metropolitan statistical area centered on the city of Augusta, Georgia. It straddles two U.S. states, Georgia and South Carolina, and includes the Georgia counties of Richmond, Burke, Columbia, Lincoln, and McDuffie as well as the South Carolina counties of Aiken and Edgefield. The official 2022 U.S. census estimate for the area was 624,083 residents, up from 611,000 at the 2020 U.S. census.
The Savannah metropolitan area, officially named the Savannah metropolitan statistical area by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is centered on the city of Savannah and encompasses three counties: Bryan, Chatham, and Effingham.
Gordon Highway is a 22.8-mile-long (36.7 km) major highway in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Georgia, traveling through the southern part of Columbia County and the northeastern part of Richmond County. It is named after Confederate general John Brown Gordon. At its western end, it is a relatively rural highway, but at its eastern end, it is an urban corridor of the Augusta metropolitan area. It connects Harlem and rural areas of southern Columbia County with Augusta and North Augusta, South Carolina. It also serves as the two main entry points to Fort Eisenhower, formerly Fort Gordon. Its entire length, from the southeastern edge of Harlem to the Georgia–South Carolina state line on the northeastern edge of Augusta, is signed as part of US 78/US 278/SR 10. In Augusta, it is signed as parts of US 1 and US 25/SR 121.
The City of Augusta, Georgia has an expansive transport network. It consists of two airports, various road bridges, national and local bus service, a highway and street network, freight train service, and boat tours and marinas.