Published Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Coweta hopes stimulus funds coming for Greentop bridge

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Times-Herald

The final plans for the replacement of the Greentop Road bridge are being completed, and Coweta County officials are "hoping very desperately that the DOT will give us stimulus money for the project," said Wayne Kennedy, Coweta's director of development and engineering.

The Georgia Department of Transportation recently announced two Coweta projects that will get stimulus funding -- the intersection improvement at Ga. Hwy. 16 and Senoia Broad Street, and the resurfacing of Ga. Hwy. 54 from Ga. Hwy. 16 to Luthersville.

But that was not the final list, and the other projects should be announced in the next two or three weeks.

Coweta is applying for funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the Greentop Road project as well as for the replacement of the White Oak Creek Bridge on Canon Road.

If stimulus funding is not approved, the county will still move forward with the projects, likely using money from the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. The Coweta County Commission recently voted to allow the $1 million in SPLOST money set aside for the TDK Boulevard extension bridge to be spent on other needed projects now that the TDK project is dead.

On Tuesday, Kennedy said he is still working to get the engineering, railroad agreements, and right-of-way acquired for the Greentop projects. "We are very close to having all of the required right-of-way for the project and the railroad agreement should be accomplished shortly," Kennedy said. Greentop Road, between U.S. Highway 29 North and Herring Road, remains closed to through-traffic with boulders blocking the bridge.

A flagman from CSX railroad will have to be on site at all times when construction is taking place, Kennedy said. The DOT will be doing the coordination with the railroad, he said.

The new bridge will be both longer and taller than the existing bridge. The new bridge will have to be 26 feet above the railroad tracks. Kennedy said that measurement is tall enough for a train to pass underneath with a person standing on top.

The bridge will have two piers and three spans, Kennedy said. The space between those two piers will be wide enough to accommodate a second railroad track, at the request of CSX, Kennedy said.

Construction on the bridge replacement will take 12 to 18 months, depending on the weather.