S.R. 19, not to be confused with U.S. 19, extends from S.R. 18 in Forsyth to U.S. 23/341 in Lumber City. A significant portion of its mileage is actually overlapped with U.S. 41 and U.S. 80. The U.S. 41 overlap extends 22 miles from the western terminus of S.R. 19 in Forsyth to U.S. 41 Business in Macon. It then overlaps U.S. 41 Business for two more miles to U.S. 80. At U.S. 80, S.R. 19 then takes over as the state overlap over a distance of 53 miles from there east to Dublin where S.R. 19 turns south away from U.S. 80. It is there in Dublin where S.R. 19 becomes independent along the remainder of its length. This independent alignment extends another 51 miles to its southern end at U.S. 341. In all, nearly 60 percent of S.R. 19 is overlapped with other routes. Of that, the parts that actualy do overlap U.S. routes are all on roads completely replaced for through traffic by I-75 and I-16. S.R. 19 passes through seven counties including Monroe, Bibb, Twiggs, Wilkinson, Laurens, Wheeler and Telfair. S.R. 19 connects also four county seats; Forsyth, Macon, Jeffersonville and Dublin; but most municipalities along the highway are very small. Other highways that overlap S.R. 19 include S.R. 11, 22 and 87 in Macon, S.R. 26 between Montrose and Dublin and S.R. 96 in Jeffersonville. HISTORY S.R. 19 predates the U.S. routes, and was an original 1921 state route that served as the major highway between Barnesville and Dublin through Macon. S.R. 18 did not originally extend east of Barnesville at that point, thus the western end went further west than Forsyth. S.R. 19 also overlapped with S.R. 26 in Dublin from the start to maintain continuity to Dublin.
When the U.S. highway system was established, U.S. 19 and 41 took over all of original S.R. 19, so it would have otherwise been decommissioned had it not been for the retention of state overlaps in Georgia. Though not completely paved at first, it was still one of the earliest paved highways in Georgia and was fully paved from Barnesville to the Twiggs County line by 1925. However, the road from Jeffersonville to Dublin remained an unimproved road during that time. By 1932, the unpaved portions were paved between Jeffersonville and the Wilkinson County line and from S.R. 26 east to Dublin. The final paving and upgrade to a modern highway was completed in 1935. After U.S. 41 and U.S. 80 took over S.R. 19, it was not an independent route again until 1955 when a small portion in Macon along Main Street was signed independently when U.S. 80 was relocated north. Later, much more of S.R. 19 was independent when the highway was extended south of Dublin in 1960, taking over what had previously been S.R. 15 when S.R. 15 was relocated further east through Vidalia. The route that was formerly S.R. 15 was first designated as a state highway in 1940 and fully paved in 1950. Since the 1950's, when the highway was upgraded along much of its length, very few changes have occurred aside from Macon. In Macon, S.R. 19 along U.S. 80 was relocated to a new four-lane alignment from I-16 east to the S.R. 87/U.S. 23 split in 1952. The previous route, Jeffersonville Road, was constructed in 1929. Later, in 1973, the independent alignment along Main Street once again became U.S. 80. Along that same part of Main Street in 1974, the bridge over the Ocmulgee River was rebuilt, which is likely why the highway was moved in the first place. Outside of Macon, the Turkey Creek bridge near Dublin was replaced in 1986 and was the last noted change on the highway.
S.R. 19 also had one banner route, S.R. 19 Spur, which lasted from 1967-1978. PHOTO GALLERY [Submit photos] All photos below taken March 8, 2005.
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