GDOT: “No easy answer” to replace McCaysville bridge
“If people like David Ralston hadn’t started that discussion 16 years ago, just think where we’d be today,” Steve Gooch said.
Gooch made the remark regarding the Highway 5 improvements between Blue Ridge and McCaysville during the annual Eggs & Issues Breakfast.
His words followed those of state Department of Transportation (GDOT) representatives who reviewed the millions of dollars in highway development planned for Fannin County.
Gooch was remembering his first meetings with Ralston and how upgrading one of the busiest two-lane highways in the state was among the District 7 state representative’s priorities.
GDOT District Engineer Grant Walrdep began the September 24 meeting saying $281 million is destined for projects in Fannin County. Bridge projects such as the one over Hothouse Creek on Highway 60 costing $5.1 million and the new Shallowford Bridge costing $3.3 million are included in the $281 million.
Waldrep, along Ethan Mobley, GDOT consultant from Southeastern Engineering Inc., and project manager for the entire Highway 5 corridor, spoke of the Highway 5 expansion, ongoing bridge projects and other GDOT plans in Fannin County.
Mobley talked about the large, concrete bridge crossing the Ocoee River that will be a truck route bypass for McCaysville and Copperhill.
A roundabout will be constructed on Blue Ridge Drive in McCaysville at School Street, which will be the start of the bypass.
Crossing over the river, it will partially loop through Copperhill Quarry property before coming to another roundabout at Colonial Avenue and Highway 68.
Mobley said the Tennessee location for the bridge, “is on (an EPA) Superfund site,” but GDOT has been told it’s “the cleanest portion of the site.”
“Currently, it’s scheduled to let December 2025, but it’s a few months behind,” Mobley said.
Although the bypass crosses into Tennessee, GDOT is handling all engineering while adhering to the Tennessee Department of Transportation’s guidelines. GDOT is funding the majority of the project, he said.
Another topic that has come to the forefront recently is the replacement of the concrete bridge – the “new” bridge – in McCaysville.
Of the memorial bridge built in 1936, Waldrep said of replacement, “This is not a bridge we can just want” to replace.
He said there is currently no weight limit on the bridge, but if deterioration continues, a limit must be enacted before a replacement is constructed.
Replacing the bridge presents “no easy answer,” Waldrep said.
He said GDOT has considered several detours including one through Madola Road in Epworth, and placement of a temporary bridge. The detour would take drivers approximately 25 miles out of their way.
GDOT hopes to have a decision within the next few months.
Gooch praised the GDOT’s plan to replace the bridge, saying, “A bridge that’s 100 years old, that’s a dangerous bridge to cross.”
Of the Highway 5 expansion, Mobley said, from Old Flowers Road in McCayville to Highway 2, it is coined an “operations and crash-reduction improvement project,” which will involve two-to-four-lane widening.
Parts of the corridor will entail six-and-a-half feet of “bike-able shoulders” with rumble strips or mumble strips and center left-turn lanes.
Mobley said work from Old Flowers Road to Wash Wilson Road is expected to be complete early 2026.
These plans involve part one of three parts of the highway project.
Phase two involves work from Wash Wilson Road to Highway 2, and then phase three is from Highway 2 to Pineview Lane in Blue Ridge.
These phases are expected to let for contracts in 2025.
Mobley also mentioned a segment in downtown Blue Ridge to include curb and gutter sidewalks.
The intersection of Highway 515 and McKinney Road in Blue Ridge will be getting left-turn lanes with bidding to begin in 2026.
The Madola Road bridge will also be getting a face lift coming next year as concerns have been raised over the five-ton weight limit and the new fire station being near.
The Shallowford Road bridge is nearing completion, and use of the old bridge will be determined at the county’s will.
The annual legislative breakfast is sponsored by the Fannin County Chamber of Commerce and CVB.