Surging Chattahoochee threatens new bridge

By STEVE VISSER

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A wall of water going down the Chattahoochee River is threatening the bridge near Whitesburg and setting a new record for a river crest.

The river surpassed the 1919 record of 29.11 feet on Monday and is expected to crest at 31.5 feet by today, according to the National Weather Service web site.

The state Department of Transportation has said it would close the bridge on U.S. 27 if river surpasses the crest prediction by a few feet and starts to hit the bridge, said Jay Jones, head of the Coweta County Emergency Management Agency.

“The support system of the bridge is fine but the bridge itself is not designed to withstand the water,” said Jones, who described the bridge as fairly new. “I’ve been in the fire service for 22 years and I’ve never seen the river this high.”

The bridge is still open, and the Georgia DOT is monitoring the situation, said a DOT spokesperson. The bridge will be closed if the water reaches the beams. At that point, it would stay closed until the DOT inspects the bridge, regardless of water level.

The highway, which connects Newnan in Coweta County to Carrollton in Carroll County, was still open as of Monday night, Jones said. He said a handful of people had been flooded out who had homes near the river.

According to the weather service, the last time the river climbed close to this height at the Whitesburg bridge was when it reached 27.5 feet on Feb. 27, 1961.