Road work in East Macon funded by the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) will begin on Monday, April 8, meaning road closures and detours. The construction will be to realign the intersection of Upper River Road, Twin Pines Drive, and Woodland Drive and is estimated to take three to four weeks to complete.

Upper River Road will remain open during the construction, but the intersection will be closed to thru traffic for Twin Pines Drive. To get onto Twin Pines from Upper River Road, or onto Upper River Road from Twin Pines, drivers will take Lincoln Road and Lincoln Circle.Signs will be placed designating the detour.

The City of Macon’s Economic and Community Development (ECD) Department is recognizing National Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Week, April 1-6, as a way to raise awareness of the local agencies receiving funding to work directly with our families and citizens and improve our neighborhoods and community.

“Community Development Block Grants are used to fund projects addressing challenges specific to our neighborhoods, and to make essential services available to those who most need them,” says Katherine Buchman, CDBG Program Specialist. “These include homelessness intervention, youth mentoring programs, support for victims of domestic violence, family counseling, home improvement for the elderly and disabled, home-ownership counseling, and financial-planning workshops, among other important services.”

The Macon Film Commission is pleased to announce that part of principal photography for the feature film “Need for Speed” will be shot in Macon. The DreamWorks Studios film is an adaptation of the highly popular video game of the same name and is to be directed by Scott Waugh, who directed “Act of Valor” in 2012. At this time the cast includes actors Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”), Dominic Cooper (“Captain America”), Imogen Poots (“Fright Night”) and Michael Keaton (“Batman”). An estimated 200 cast and crew members will come to Macon as part of this production, which will begin shooting in Macon in mid-April 2013.

Location scouts have been working with the Macon Film Commission for several months to secure shoot locations for this “high octane” film in the downtown Macon area. Macon has once again shown that it is an outstanding option for filmmakers.

“Macon and our entire region continues to attract interest for movies, television shows, and commercials, and we are excited to be one of the locations for the filming of ‘Need for Speed,’” said Macon Mayor Robert Reichert. “With more and more production crews working here, our reputation as a great place to film is spreading.”