The Georgia Department of Transportation is scheduled to reopen the College Street Bridge by Thanksgiving. The bridge on County Road 5813 — more commonly known as College Street — was closed on May 26 to demolish and replace the old bridge.
The former College Street bridge had been functional for over 125 years, and it was a historically designated landmark. However, it had to be replaced because the increasing frequency of trains with double-stacked freight cars had rendered the bridge both unsafe and inefficient.
According to Penny Brooks, district communication officer for the West Central Region of Georgia, construction of the bridge was scheduled to take six months, and it has remained on schedule despite COVID-19 precautions.
“Because that railroad is located in an active neighborhood, this project was decidedly undertaken with what are called design-build techniques, so the contractor we brought in to do this job has an accelerated timeline,” Brooks said. “The project could’ve taken a year to do. It is basically being done in about half a year’s time. It actually is way more convenient for the neighborhood around the tracks.”
Because of this accelerated timeline, the bridge is scheduled to open to the public by Thanksgiving Day. The beams for the bridge have already been placed, and the concrete deck pour should be completed in the next few weeks. Then, the construction workers will lay down the asphalt, and the bridge will be opened.
However, the project will not be completed at that point. To honor the history of the original bridge, construction will move to a nearby park to build a historical monument to the bridge using the original bricks. The entire project will be completed by spring of 2021.
College Street Bridge construction set to be complete by next semester
The bridge on County Road 5813 — more commonly known as College Street — has been closed since May 26
