Thursday, August 11, 2011

Bridge Construction Underway

DSC_5363The widening of U.S. 19 north has gotten underway, the first phase of the project will be the removal of the barrier wall and sidewalk on the west side of the bridge.

Construction crews were on the site this morning installing silt screen and preparing for the equipment to arrive that will be used to clear the right-of-way. The clearing work should begin by Monday.

The next step will be relocating the utility lines and installing a temporary wall from just south of Thomaston Ford across the bridge to a point near the Bank of Upson location. The actual demolition work on the bridge can not begin until early September due to insects that nest underneath the structure.

Traffic flow will not be interrupted during the construction and Department of Transportation engineers plan to keep two lanes open in each direction by shifting the lanes slightly during the addition on each side of the bridge then splitting the lanes to rebuild the middle of the bridge. The elevation of the bridge will not change.

The additions shown below were added to the bridge in 1978, the new bridge will be 72 feet wide and although it will still be two lanes in each direction, the lanes will be wider.

DSC_5362

DSC_5360The contract for the bridge replacement is $4,218,979.00 while the widening of the road, with the addition of a concrete median, from the bridge to near Garner Street will cost $7,463,571.00, the general contractor is C. W. Matthews from Marietta.

The scheduled completion date for the project is
June 30, 2013.

The name on the bridge will remain the same.

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