Part of Crawford-Smithonia Road to be closed for about five months
Several road projects are coming to Oglethorpe County, including a bridge replacement on Crawford-Smithonia Road.
Clearing work has started on the project and the bridge over Big Clouds Creek is scheduled to close sometime in early September for about a period of 150 days, Public Works director Adam Nation said, which would take completion of the project into early 2026.
The bridge project is being done by the Georgia Department of Transportation, which is replacing older bridges that don’t meet safety requirements, he said. The current bridge was built in 1958. Construction will be done by E.R Snell, a company based in Snellville.
In addition, a $1.75 million local maintenance grant from the state will be used to resurface Crawford-Smithonia Road, starting this month.
A full-depth repaving reclamation will include the stretch of the road from Bunker Hill Road to Welcome Avenue Congregational Holiness Church, a distance of about 3 miles.
The project will include grinding up the road, mixing concrete on top of the asphalt, which makes a base and will then repaving on top of that.
“It will appear to go back to a dirt road for a couple of weeks and then they’ll come back and pave on it,” Nation said.
The hope is that the bridge construction and resurfacing can happen at the same time to minimize road closure time, Paul said.
Nation said he’s excited about all the projects, but especially about a widening project that will take place on several county roads and start sometime in the next couple of weeks.
Buddy Faust Road, Bunker Hill Road, Hutchins Road, part of Crawford-Smithonia Road, and Smithonia Road from Beaverdam Fire Department to Winterville will be widened by 2 feet on both sides of the roads (4 total feet). The roads also will receive new signage.
The project will be funded by an Off Safety System grant, which is federally funded, but is distributed through the state. Former county administrator Josh Hawkins applied for this grant before he left for a job with Athens-Clarke County in April 2024.
“There was a lot that went into that,” Nation said. “We had to look into our most dangerous roads in the county, which ones we’ve had the most crashes on, and things like that, and the most fatalities. Then you come up with a safety action plan — ‘What can we do to make these roads safer?’ — and that’s where the widening and all that comes into effect.”
Pittman Construction will lead that project.
The county and DOT are working together to make the intersection between Collier Church Road, Watson Mill Road and State Route 22 into a four-way stop with flashing stop signs, with the ultimate goal of making the intersection into a roundabout.
“This is just stats off the top of my head, but that’s not where we had the most accidents in the county, but unfortunately, it’s probably where we had the most fatalities,” Paul said.
The project is scheduled to start this month.
Last year, the county turned Sandy Cross Road’s intersection with Lexington-Carlton Road from a two-way stop into a four-way stop with flashing stop signs. That intersection went from nearly one accident per month to zero accidents since November.
Paul said he hopes to add flashing stop signs at the intersection of Sandy Cross Road, Centerville Road and State Route 77. Because these projects involve state routes, Paul said that they have to be on DOT’s timelines, so it’s difficult to say when they will start.
“The good thing is that even though GPS keeps directing more and more out-of-county traffic through this intersection, the data supports that this is now a safer intersection,” Paul said.
Nation said two bids for seven flashing stop signs for the two intersections and one extra are $29,500 and $30,000.
The bridge on Double Bridges Road is open, although work is still being completed.
Damage to the box culvert was found last October and DOT inspectors assessed the damage, which resulted in a nine-month closure.
“I talked and communicated with Gov. Brian Kemp and he sent a different DOT team down there to assess it, and was able to forward us some financial assistance, which was almost $500,000,” Paul said. “I can’t say thanks enough for that.”
Road options
The replacement of the bridge on Crawford-Smithonia Road will close the road for about 150 days, starting sometime next month. Here are three possible alternatives for those affected by the closure.
- Take Beaverdam Road to Mitchell Farm to Hargrove Lake Road.
- Take Collier Church Road to Highway 22 to Lexington.
- Go to the four-way stop in Smithonia and take Smithonia Road to Cloud’s Creek and Highway 22.