Removal of Park St. Bridge Underway in Toccoa

Work is underway to tear down the Park Street Bridge in Toccoa.

Crews began removing the bridge that spans the railroad tracks along Currahee Street this week.

The Toccoa City Commission had signed a formal agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway to allow them to remove the bridge back in August.

City Manager Billy Morse said as part of that agreement, crews are not just removing the bridge, but fixing an erosion issue along the railroad tracks.

Morse said both projects will be done over the coming weeks.

“Norfolk Southern has hired a contractor at no expense to the city,” said Morse. “That contractor is in town, working on the bridge as we speak. He has advised me he will not leave town until both projects are completed.”

The Park Street Bridge was closed to traffic in 2013 at the order of the Georgia Department of Transportation following an inspection.

Toccoa City Commissioners then voted last March to close the bridge permanently and pave the way for its eventual removal, despite some residents asking the city to request the bridge be fixed and kept in place.

Once the bridge is removed, the city will permanently barricade the approaches to the bridge in accordance of DOT standards.

Morse said crews will move on to fixing the erosion issue along the railroad tracks following the removal of the bridge.

He said that erosion issue is one that has been a problem for some time that the city is glad to see fixed.

“From Hayes Street, the city has storm water piping that gets water off of a street and takes it away and where it goes is to the railroad right-of-way,” said Morse. “Through the years, that constant storm water erosion has created pretty good gulley wash along the bank of the railroad. Because the city was the one piping the water there, we felt we were ultimately liable for that situation.”

Like the bridge removal, the erosion issue is also being fixed at no cost to the city.

In fact, under the agreement to remove the bridge, Norfolk Southern agreed to pay the city of Toccoa $150,000.

Morse said the city has that money in hand.

“We have put that aside for the commission to determine how it will be used at a later date,” said Morse.

Previously, city commissioners have expressed a desire to spend at least some of that money in the immediate area of the Park Street Bridge.