Work on Sylvania Gap Road may begin soon

The Weekly Post

From staff reports
The Weekly Post

Published September 24, 2009

If the weather cooperates, construction on Sylvania Gap Road will start sometime in the foreseeable future.

"We got the final recommendations from the consulting firm," DeKalb County engineer Ben Luther told the county commission at Tuesday's meeting. "We don't have to send it back to FEMA and we're going to do the work ourselves, so we're ready to start excavating."

Luther explained that after excavating the area, it will basically be filled in with stacked stones on a liner.

"It'll be a slow process," he said. "I figure two to three weeks for excavation."

The commission also approved for the 2010 Federal Aid Resurfacing Project money to go to County Road 47, which goes from Highway 35 to County Road 27, approximately 4.4 miles between Powell and Sylvania, and County Road 72 in Shiloh, which extends from Highway 75 to County Road 94, about 3 miles.

The federal dollars rotate between districts and this year is District 4's turn.

In other business, the commission approved for Southern Radiology out of Rainbow City to provide X-rays of inmates. They will come to the jail within 24 hours of being called and will do it for about one-third the cost the hospital quoted.

It will also help with security, since prisoners won't have to be transported to the hospital.

• County Road 635, which is on the Georgia line and the Cherokee County line on top of Lookout Mountain, is closed.

The bridge at the county line was damaged by Sunday night's flooding.

• The county vacated the old roadbed on County 577 near Rainsville from when it was realigned for the new bridge.

• Agreed to send an application to the Justice Department to move Fyffe's polling place from the fire hall to the new senior center.

• Allowed Jeremy Hughes, who is working at the animal adoption center, to move from inmate status to work-release.

• Agreed to change phone service to BCI, of Birmingham. The switch should result in a savings of around $700 per month. BCI is a contractor for AT&T.

• Instead of adjourning, the meeting was recessed until next Wednesday, for final approval of the annual budget.

Commission President Sid Holcomb said that he is hopeful a new commissioner will be appointed by the Governor this week and he can be at next week's meeting.