Turner Mccall bridge open house set for Thurs.
♦ Plans are to replace the bridge on the major thoroughfare in 2022.
A public open house is scheduled for Thursday on proposed plans to replace the Turner Mccall Boulevard bridge over the Etowah River and Norfolk Southern Railroad.
Georgia Department of Transportation officials will be at the Rome Civic Center on Jackson Hill from 5 to 7 p.m. with maps and information for the dropin event.
The replacement bridge will have four lanes of traffic plus additional width for turn lanes. Engineers determined after a routine inspection that the current bridge, which was built in 1956, needs to be replaced. The decision was made to extend the turn lanes across the new bridge to facilitate staged construction and to help reduce congestion.
“When the determination was made to replace the bridge, we looked at how we could also improve traffic at the same time,” said GDOT District Six Engineer Grant Waldrop. “The additional bridge width allows for the turn lanes to be extended, which will help to move traffic across Turner Mccall Boulevard.”
The project is projected to cost $28.5 million with construction expected to take two years when it gets underway in summer 2022.
According to GDOT estimates, nearly 37,000 vehicles a day are expected to be using the bridge by then. Officials have said the project must be coordinated with the planned widening of Second Avenue to avoid both major thoroughfares being under construction at the same time.
Attendees of the open house can review the project, ask questions, and express any concerns they might have about the proposed improvements.
“We look forward to hearing from the public,” Waldrop said. “Their input on this project is important to us as we move forward.”
Engineers looked at a host of construction options before settling on a plan. The timeline includes making accommodations for pedestrians to continue using the bridge while the work is underway.
There also may be special provisions to keep the river open for paddlers and kayakers, and some environmental considerations may affect the timing. Seasonal restrictions are possible in the removal of the existing bridge due to the presence of bird nests and bats.
The standards used for the original bridge design are below current design standards, according to the project report. A structural analysis shows that it has no reserve capacity in the substructure, but the overall condition of the bridge is classified as fair.