The public is invited to weigh in Tuesday night on a proposed plan to improve Blue Ridge Drive (State Route 5) and build a new truck route in Fannin County, Georgia and in Polk County, Tennessee.
The project includes rebuilding SR 5 from Old Flowers Road to Colton Avenue with 10-foot shoulders and 16-inch rumble strips, with two lanes, 5-foot sidewalks and curbs and gutters, plus a roundabout at School Street.
A two-lane truck route, 1.1 miles long, would be built from the roundabout. It would head northwest into Tennessee, then turn northeast and bridge West Tennessee Avenue, the Ocoee River, the existing railroad and Tennessee SR 68/Ocoee Street before looping into a second roundabout near Colonial Avenue.
The project would take trucks out of downtown McCaysville/Copperhill, which will improve safety and economic development, said
Grant Waldrop, district engineer at the Georgia DOT office in Cartersville.
The open house is set for 4-7 p.m.at the McCaysville Church of God, located at 1477 Blue Ridge Drive inf Blue Ridge, Georgia. Learn more at www.dot.ga.gov.
The Georgia Department of Transportation will accept written comments through Sept. 25. Mail comments to Eric Duff, state environmental administrator, Georgia Department of Transportation Office of Environmental Services, 600 W. Peachtree St. NW – 16th Floor, Atlanta, GA 30308.