The Johns Creek City Council has approved a memorandum of agreement with state and federal agencies and the city of Duluth to advance plans for a new Rogers Bridge, a pedestrian span across the Chattahoochee River.
The agreement with Duluth, the Federal Highway Administration, Georgia Department of Transportation and Georgia State Historic Preservation Office concerns the existing bridge, a steel truss design that dates to roughly 1900.
It was closed to vehicular traffic years ago and currently carries a 30-inch water main, according to a Johns Creek staff report. The bridge is too far gone to be restored, and the various agencies are working on removing and replacing it with a new structure that would replicate the original.
The bridge, however, may be considered historic, requiring permitting through the Federal Highway Administration, staff said. The agreement approved by Johns Creek provides for the required mitigation – preparing a permanent archival record and interpretive panel – prior to the span’s removal and replacement.
The agreement is expected to be the first of several, staff said.
“As this project continues towards construction in 2020, a series of intergovernmental agreements will be coming to council,” staff said. “These include a construction agreement (and) ownership and maintenance agreement, as well as a right of entry agreement for the bridge work to be completed.”
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