GDOT Picks Detour Option For Apalachee Bridge At High Shoals

While acknowledging citizen opposition to its plan, the Georgia Department of Transportation has decided that closing the SR 186 bridge over the Apalachee River at High Shoals and detouring traffic 15.8 miles around the construction of a replacement bridge is the preferred option.

The project is now in preliminary design stage, Mindy Sanders, GDOT project manager said Tuesday.

The contract is scheduled to be let in April of 2022, based on the current time table, according to Sanders. Construction normally follows in about three months, she said, and is expected to last 15 months.

GDOT said it received 49 comments from citizens expressing their opinions on the project, and 18 were opposed to the adopted plan, 12 supported it, 17 gave what was labeled conditional support, and two did not commit.

Many supported an alternative plan that would have avoided the detour by building a replacement bridge just upstream from the existing structure rather building a bridge on the site of the existing structure.

City Council of North High Shoals on the Oconee County side of the river also passed a resolution favoring the rejected alternative because of the inconvenience of the detour.

For more on the story, please go to Oconee County Observations.