Covered bridge in Smyrna to close for repairs

Two-day shutdown will allow workers to replace boards inside the frequently battered structure.

Cobb County’s Concord Road covered bridge will be off limits to traffic for two days next week so crews can make repairs to the iconic structure.

The Cobb Department of Transportation will close the one-lane bridge to traffic for routine maintenance from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.

The county said crews will replace some of the boards inside the bridge, according to the agency’s Facebook post.

Cobb County spokesman Ross Cavitt said it will cost about $2,000 to replace the boards. The work

will not be affected by the weather because crews will be working inside the bridge, he added.

While it has a long and treasured history, the covered bridge spanning Nickajack Creek just south of the East-West Connector is best known for repeated accidents as inattentive drivers keep trying to fit tall vehicles under its low rafters. It has been the victim of 22 close calls since December 2017, when the county installed protective metal beams at both

ends of the bridge as part of an $800,000 taxpayer-funded rehabilitation. The beams are designed to absorb the blow, protecting the bridge.

Since the hits to the metal beams kept coming, the county in June rolled out a more conspicuous system: dangling PVC pipes suspended over the road on the approach to the bridge. Traffic-signal mast arms hold the dangling pipes over Concord Road at a height of seven feet, which is the same maximum height for the one-lane bridge. The system is intended to be struck by tootall vehicles as they approach the historic covered bridge, giv

ing them time to turn around. Since the installation, Cavitt said he has not seen any reports or social media posts indicating that the bridge’s beams have been hit.

He also said the county has replaced more than a dozen pipes on the system since June. Cobb County has the pipes in stock because they can be used in a variety of ways, Cavitt said.

The covered bridge, built in 1872, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a centerpiece of Cobb’s Concord Covered Bridge Historic District, which features homes and mills dating to the 1800s.