Pond Street Bridge Closed

This footing needs repair at the Pond St. Bridge, according to the Ga. DOT. (Photo courtesy city of Toccoa)

This footing needs repair at the Pond St. Bridge, according to the Ga. DOT. (Photo courtesy city of Toccoa)

The city of Toccoa has had to close the Pond Street bridge in downtown until further notice.

City officials made the announcement Friday as the bridge over the Norfolk Southern railroad was shut down.

Toccoa City Manager Billy Morse said the bridge was closed at the request of the Georgia Department of Transportation.

“DOT has a State Bridge Maintenance Engineer and an inspector that looks at all bridges around the state,’ said Morse. “This happens from time to time. They will inspect a bridge and see something that concerns them and in this particular case, they found that one of the (supports) holding up the bridge needs to be replaced and they asked us to close the bridge immediately so we have done that.”

In a letter given to the city regarding the bridge closure, DOT State Bridge Maintenance Engineer Andy Doyle said that the structure is in critical condition and is no longer safe for live vehicular loading until repairs or replacement can be made.

Morse said one support in particular is in need of repair.

“There are concrete supports holding that bridge up and they are perfectly fine,” said Morse. “There are some wooden supports holding up one end of the bridge and one of those four is what needs to be replaced.”

Morse said the city will work with the Department of Transportation to find out what needs to be done to get the bridge re-opened to traffic.

However, he said there is not a timeline for repairs at this point.

“We have to work with Norfolk Southern to see if it is their responsibility to make the repairs,” said Morse. “If it is not, then the city will need to get permission from them to go on their property to make that repair. It is a pretty easy fix I think but working through the details of who is going to do it and when they are going to do it may take us a little while.”

Morse said the city apologizes for any inconvenience.

There are two other places to cross the railroad tracks in downtown Toccoa. One is on Sage Street and the other is the underpass on Broad Street.

This is the third bridge over the Norfolk Southern railroad in Stephens County singled out by the DOT in recent years.

The city of Toccoa had the Park Street Bridge removed earlier this year and recently, the DOT ordered Stephens County to close the Stonewall Court bridge over the tracks near the Toccoa-Stephens County Airport.