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10th March 2008

Covered Bridge in Danger?

posted in Transportation |

Is the Concord Covered Bridge in Smyrna in danger? Dozens of Concord Road residents are concerned that this may be the long-term impact of Georgia Department of Transportation’s plan to replace the one lane bridge that leads to the covered bridge with a two-lane bridge.

Georgia Department of Transportation officials said the one-lane bridge over the Silver Comet Trail got a sufficiency rating of 14 out of 100 at its most recent inspection, on Aug. 2.

The state DOT says repairing the bridge, which is on Concord Road between the East-West Connector, and the historic covered bridge will cost about $1 million. Because the sufficiency rating is below 50, the project qualifies for federal financing. In order to get the funding, the project would have to adhere to federal transportation rules requiring two-lane bridges for two-lane roadways.

At a public forum Thursday night, residents said they fear widening the bridge will bring more traffic accidents and endanger the nearby historic covered bridge.

The GDOT plan is to replace the 12-foot-wide wood bridge with a 34-foot-wide bridge with historical features such as one built across the East-West Connector on Concord Road. The project is expected to go out to bid in June.

Cobb Commissioners Joe Lee Thompson and Annette Kesting attended Thursday’s forum. Thompson said he would like to talk with the other members of the Board of Commissioners and the Cobb Department of Transportation to see if the county can take over the project - and pay for it - to keep it one-lane.

Cobb Department of Transportation Director David Montanye and Mike Lobdell, project manager for GDOT, said neither of their agencies have any plans to widen Concord Road to a four-lane road, eliminating the covered bridge.

Jeff Carr, GDOT historian, said it would be “nearly impossible” to replace the covered bridge because of all the state and federal agencies that would be need to sign off on the project. The bridge is included on the National Registry of Historical Places.

Despite these items, the local residents are still concerned about the covered bridge and the impact to the area’s history.

The GDOT is accepting comments about the project on the GDOT website until March 20.

To see the original article in its entirety, please visit Marietta Daily Journal’s site.

Technorati Tags: Concord Covered Bridge, Smyrna Vinings Bridges, Cobb County Transportation

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 10:43 pm and is filed under Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On April 14th, 2008, netdragon said:

The covered bridge should be preserved. An alternate route for most traffic can be built adjacent to the current park location (right after the park, well before the first bridge) over to Covered Bridge Rd, and Covered Bridge Rd can be widened to two lanes between Hicks Rd and Concord Rd. The Silver Comet Trail will need to be adjusted in two places, one near where the alternate route would come off Concord Rd. The properties near the covered bridge are far enough away that re-routing traffic this way wouldn’t create an eyesore out the back of peoples’ land. It’s a much better alternative than widening the road right near the historic houses around the bridge.

2 On April 15th, 2008, Aaron Hofmann said:

Just to clarify, the plan is only to widen the bridge from one single lane to two lanes. The politicos contend that the historic covered bridge will not be affected and certainly widening the first bridge will improve safety around that bridge, however, it may decrease safety around the covered bridge as it currently functions as an extra warning and obviously causes everyone to slow down prior to approaching the covered bridge.

I do like your suggestion for an alternative route. The downside is that I would expect it to increase the amount of truck traffic through there as currently most trucks do not fit through the covered bridge.