Meeting On Thursday For High Shoals Bridge Replacement Options

Citizens will have a chance on Thursday to comment on two plans for replacement of the bridge over the Apalachee River at High Shoals.

One of those plans would require a 15-month closing of the roadway and a nearly 16-mile detour of traffic.

The engineers hired by the Georgia Department of Transportation for the bridge replacement project prefer this option.

The second plan would leave the existing bridge in place and build another just upstream. No detour would be used, as the existing bridge would remain open during the 21 months of construction.

The meeting on the bridge plans from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday at Oconee Veterans Park, 3500 Hog Mountain Road, is the first of three meetings scheduled by GDOT this month dealing with Oconee County road projects.

GDOT will hold open houses on the plans for the widening of U.S. 441 from Madison to Watkinsville from 5 to 7 p.m. March 12 at the Morgan County High School cafeteria in Madison and from 5 to 7 p.m. March 19 at Oconee Veterans Park.

Rounding out meetings this week is a local session of the National Issues Forum, “A House Divided: What Would We Have to Give Up to Get the Political System We Want?” scheduled for 3 to 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Oconee County Library.

The National Issues Forum is a non-partisan, nationwide network of civic, educational, and other organizations and individuals interested in promoting public deliberation. The Oconee Progressives is the local sponsor of the session.

For more on the story, with a video of a meeting in January where the bridge plans were unveiled, please go to Oconee County Observations.