Brookhaven residents are worried about how long it might take to replace a local bridge and what can be done in the meantime.
On July 1, the city announced that the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) discovered structural issues with a bridge near 1243 W. Nancy Creek Drive during a routine inspection, and the bridge would be closed to pedestrians and cars until further notice. On July 12, the city announced that the bridge would need to be replaced, an endeavor that is expected to take about 12 months.
At a July 26 Brookhaven City Council meeting, some residents who live near the closed bridge expressed concern over how the closure would affect their access to the rest of Brookhaven.
“It’s affecting a lot of carpools, buses, work, and really cutting us off from our community,” Erica Robinson said. “We really want this expedited. I don’t know what it takes to build a bridge, but as you can imagine this is a very high priority for us.”
Rachel Herring said she worried that the issues residents are facing would only get worse come the start of school.
“We know you guys know it’s an inconvenience,” she said. “We’re in the middle of summer. School’s about to start. It’s just going to get ramped up and way worse.”
Public Works Director Don Sherrill said that the GDOT inspection revealed spalling, or fragmentation, of a column, and scouring and undermining of the footing of the bridge. Scouring refers to the erosion of soil around a bridge foundation, and undermining is the hollowing action of flowing water.
Sherrill said that a second structural engineer confirmed the issues GDOT had found, as well as other structural problems with the bridge.
“Based on the observations of the structural engineer, they confirmed the need to close the bridge and recommended complete replacement,” Sherrill said.
At the July 26 meeting, the city approved an ordinance to appropriate $350,000 from the general fund for the engineering of the bridge replacement. The ordinance also allows revenue from the city’s Special Services District, a tax district that has certain business owners pay more in property taxes to help fund infrastructure improvements, to reimburse the city’s general fund.
City staff and council members said the city is prioritizing the project and working to expedite the bridge replacement. Sherrill said staff is currently preparing requests for proposals for the demolition of the existing bridge, and the city is working with a design consultant and GDOT to work on replacement.
In public comment, some residents asked for a temporary fix to support transportation for pedestrians or vehicles while they wait on the new bridge. Herring said she would support any temporary fix the city could provide.
“At this point, we feel so landlocked, that we would be fine with anything for our kids to walk to school, walk to Muprhey Candler [Park],” she said. “That’s where our community is.”
Sherrill said the city would still have to go through permitting processes for a temporary bridge, at which time the city might already be prepared to start work on the official replacement bridge.
“Anything that we build on a temporary basis would have to go through the same process as what a permanent structure would,” Sherrill said.
City Manager Christian Sigman said the city’s public works department does not have the bandwidth to work on a temporary solution while trying to address the official replacement. Sigman also said that a temporary fix just for pedestrians would not be possible.
“From a pure risk perspective, we have engineers – very qualified engineers – that said there’s a failing structure,” he said. “We are not in a position to say, well that’s failing for cars, not people … it’s just not going to be the case.”
Sigman said that next meeting, the council will review an engineering and design agreement with Heath & Lineback Engineers, and that the firm has started surveying the site.
“Right now, they are under contract,” he said. “The project’s going just as fast as it can.”
Updates on the bridge can be found on the city’s website.
