Construction to close Kennesaw Avenue in Marietta

Road construction near downtown Marietta this summer will cause major headaches starting next week.

The city will close Kennesaw Avenue, a main entrance to the city, on Tuesday in order to replace the bridge over Noses Creek. A short stretch of Kennesaw, from Tower Road to St. Anne’s Road, will remain closed until Aug. 9 while the bridge is replaced, said Dan Conn, Marietta’s public works director.

In the meantime, drivers are urged to avoid the area and use detours.

The city will build a concrete arch culvert that is wider than the current bridge, similar to a bridge on Burnt Hickory Road, Conn said.

The current bridge is weight-restricted, Conn said, meaning large trucks can’t use it. The bridge has been shored up for the past few years, he said.

Southbound traffic on Kennesaw will be detoured east on Tower to Church Street, then south on Church to its intersection with Kennesaw.

Northbound Kennesaw traffic will be detoured at the intersection with Cherokee Street. Traffic will continue north along Cherokee to the intersection with Tower, then travel west on Tower to its intersection with Kennesaw.

Even after the bridge is replaced, construction along a mile-long stretch of Kennesaw will continue until May 2010, Conn said. The city will replace a water line under the road, install storm drainage pipes to cut down on flooding, replace curbs and widen the sidewalk on the west side to six feet, Conn said. Construction will stretch from North Marietta Parkway to Tower Road.

Kennesaw Avenue will remain open during the construction, but with intermittent lane closures that will cause delays, Conn said.