Douglas Road Bridge on Schedule for Opening in October

A bridge replacement project on Douglas Road is on schedule to be completed in October, according to Pete Sewczwicz, director of Engineering and Public Works for Alpharetta.

He said he doesn't have an exact date, but it should be in the middle or end of October, weather permitting.

"Hopefully the weather holds up for us, but it is ahead of schedule," Sewczwicz said.

A roundabout intersection project was completed recently that is near the bridge as scheduled before school started.

"Once we feel comfortable that we can have vehicles on the bridge while the contractors are still working on the corridor, we will open up the bridge," he said.

Sewczwicz has received calls asking why the bridge wasn't completed before school started. That wasn't the schedule; only the roundabout intersection project was scheduled for completion by then.

The bridge had to be replaced because it was a safety hazard for residents who crossed it, Sewczwicz said. A GA Department of Transportation bridge inspector gave it a lower than average load rating, which closed it to truck and school bus traffic.

Some fixes were made to the bridge, but it wasn't deemed enough.

"We did some improvements and were able to do a Band-aid, but GDOT implied it would be best to go for a bridge replacement since it would not be easily repaired to increase the load rating, he said.

When the city planned its roundabout project at Douglas Road and Leeward Walk, City Council took its staff's recommendation to work on the bridge and intersection at the same time rather than staggering them.

The new bridge will be inspected by GDOT before vehicles can travel across it.

"The new bridge will accommodate safe passage for pedestrians to safely cross the bridge going up and down Doulgas Road," Sewczwicz said.

Douglas Road and Leeward Walk receive a lot of pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and the bridge will accommodate them, he said.

Alpharetta City Council awarded a contract for a Doulgas Road sidewal project, Sewczwicz said. Summit Construction & Development's $176,207 bid covers construction of approximately 1,000 linear feet of 5-foot wide sidewalk on the west side of Douglas Road from the city limits south of McGinnis Ferry Road to Oak Tree Hollow.

Sewczwicz said the city also is working on designs and plans with Johns Creek to extend the sidewalk from the southern section of Douglas Road all the way to Jones Bridge Road. The project would tie in with a Johns Creek multi-use trail project along Jones Bridge Road to Webb Bridge Way.