Motorists traveling along Laurence-Hazel Road will no longer need to take a detour as efforts to replace a dilapidated bridge near the intersection of Highway 80 are complete.
Charles Godwin, Beat 4 supervisor and president of the Newton County Board of Supervisors reported Joe Magee construction finished the bridge work April 2, and the bridge was reopened the same day.
“It is open,” Godwin said. “We’ve still got to pave the approaches, but we’ve got it temporarily done.”
While replacing the bridge, workers ended up raising the deck (the part cars drive on) about four inches, Godwin explained. The workers added material to the approaches as a temporary fix for motorists, but the county will need to go back and properly pave those areas to keep it in good condition.
“We’ll probably do that later this week,” he said Monday.
Currently, the bridge is open for use, and the county is awaiting inspectors to sign off on their work. Godwin said he wasn’t sure when the inspectors would come as the work was done with county funds, not state money.
“This was done with county money only,” he said. “There was no state or federal, just Beat 4 county money.”
Godwin said he wanted to thank motorists and residents in the area for their patience while the bridge was closed. With the inconvenience of a detour passed, he said he hoped residents will be able to resume their normal routines quickly and safely.
“We appreciate their patience and putting up with the bridge being closed these past days,” he said.
