Projects

Hurricane Road Re-alignment:
Hurricane Road over Hurricane Creek

Whitfield County, Georgia

Hurricane Road is a rural two-lane roadway with deficient horizontal and vertical geometry and is priority number 24 on the Whitfield County SPLOST Projects Priority List. The proposed roadway improvements will improving the horizontal alignment by eliminating one curve south of the stream crossing and increasing the radius of a curve through the stream crossing to meet minimum AASHTO standards. Additionally, the vertical alignment will be improved to meet minimum AASHTO standards.

The existing roadway consists of two 10-foot travel lanes and minimal, if any, stabilized shoulders. The proposed typical section will include 10’ lanes with 8’ shoulder, of which 2’ are paved. The existing right-of-way is 80’ along Hurricane Road (40’ each side of the baseline of survey). Additional right-of-way will be required south of the proposed curve as well as on the east side of Hurricane Road. A retaining wall was used along the east right-of-way line to minimize right-of-way impacts.

The existing structure which facilitates the stream crossing for Hurricane Road over Hurricane Creek consists of a combination a steel beam bridge on the north side of the roadway and dual 72”x 60” metal corrugated pipes on the south side of the roadway. The corrugated pipes extend underneath the existing steel beam bridge to the north and out a distance to provide sufficient width for the paved roadway

above. The north coping of the steel bridge has post and rail traffic barrier attached to the exterior beam. On the south side of the structure, over the corrugated pipes, there is only a minimal shoulder and no traffic rail.

The existing structure will be replaced with a new structure due to the proposed realignment of Hurricane Road. The proposed roadway will be shifted to the south providing a safer alignment which meets AASHTO and GDOT standards. The new structure will require a skew so as to maintain the existing alignment of Hurricane Creek. The new structure will consist of a double 10’ x 7’ concrete box culvert that will span approximately 100 feet.

Wetlands are located in the area south and west of the existing alignment. The proposed alignment was designed to minimize environmental impacts to the extent possible resulting in eliminating the need for mitigation for this project.