Gilmer County has received information the construction of a new Lower Cartecay Bridge may begin by the end of this year.
The schedule to let bids and begin construction has been changed several times in the years since the bridge was first closed in April 2017. Before the latest update, the bridge was set to be constructed in 2025.
“I just hope this will be a good one and everyone sticks to it,” said Gilmer County Chair Charlie Paris.
Construction was originally slated to begin in 2020 and estimated to cost $1.2 million. Paris said the latest figure he has seen is $3.4 million.
Costs of materials have been rising across the construction industry, but Paris said additional costs can also be attributed to raising the bed of the bridge to move it out of the flood plain.
Gilmer County Public Works Director Jim Smith told the Gilmer County Board of Commissioners about the new schedule at the end of a meeting in February.
Right of way acquisition was completed in January 2022, he said. A final field review will be completed in July.
Construction of the bridge is set to begin in December 2022 and will take 18 months to complete, Smith said.
Lower Caretecay Bridge was originally closed following a routine inspection by a diver with GDOT.
“Apparently, that’s a very old bridge of a design called ‘flat-rock stack’ which is what it sounds like, a bunch of flat rocks just stacked up (for a foundation),” said Paris at the time. “(The diver) said there was enough space he could take a stick and run it all the way across in there between those rocks and the bottom on at least one of those columns.
“Once that was determined, someone at DOT said this bridge has to be closed.”
Gilmer County was able to get the bridge added to the GDOT schedule for bridge replacement instead of paying for the replacement out of county funds.