Bulloch County is seeking bids to repair Brannen Pond Road and to build two large culverts underneath the road that will prevent in the future the extent of damage that has caused the connector to be closed since last August.
A two-mile stretch of the road, which serves as a short-cut of sorts between where it intersects Highway 80 East, about one mile east of the Brooklet city limits, with Brooklet-Denmark Road, has remained closed since Hurricane Idalia dumped about eight inches of rain on the region Aug. 30-31 last year.
The bids will be based on recommendations from a water-flow study that Kimley-Horn and Associates, a Savannah-based consulting firm, delivered to the Board of Commissioners in May, said County Engineer Brad Deal.
The Idalia rains that Deal said he was told were a “once-in-10-year event,” overwhelmed the two existing 60-inch-diameter drainage pipes that run under the road. This caused flooding over the road, which washed away a portion of the road’s shoulder and damaged a length of guardrail along a sharp curve with a steep embankment.
Although the damaged portion of road is only about 200 feet long, all of the Brannen Pond Connector between Brooklet-Denmark Road and U.S. Highway 80 remains closed to through traffic because of a lack of detours, Deal said.
While repairing the road at the time was an option, it would only have been a temporary fix and county officials knew the long-term viability of the road needed to be addressed.
Along with many counties in Georgia, both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Georgia Emergency Management Agency declared Bulloch County a major disaster area in the wake of Idalia. Working with the two agencies, Deal submitted the “Brannen Pond Asphalt Road and Culverts Project” plan that would help fund a permanent fix to the road.
Ultimately, it was agreed that FEMA would reimburse Bulloch $509,200 and GEMA would reimburse $62,568 of the final total cost of the project.
In its water-flow study, Kimley-Horn offered several options to manage the drainage problem under the road.
The consultants recommended “Concept 2” in the study, which involves installing two 10’x7’ reinforced concrete box culverts to extend 52 feet under the road.
“This concept replaces existing pipes with concrete pipes, which have a design life ranging from 70 to 100 years,” the study states. “This is a great improvement to the existing pipes, which are well into their design life. The larger culvert barrels provide significant improvements to (ensure) the system (will not) clog with sediment and debris.”
The concrete culverts, Deal said, would prevent catastrophic damage to the road up to a “one in 100-year event.”
Contractors will make their bids to fulfill the specifications of “Concept 2,” but also must completely repair the road, the guardrail and the embankment that was washed away, Deal said.
The Kimley-Horn study also looked at the environmental impact of building the culverts.
“The design team met with representatives from the US Army Corps of Engineers to discuss the project,” the study says. “(Corps) representatives confirmed that the project should be permitted utilizing regional conditions for aquatic fish passage, and concurs that Concept 2 will improve the aquatic resources of the system. The (Corps) concluded that there will be no adverse environmental impacts as a result of this project.”
Project timeline
Deal said qualified bids would be opened at 3 p.m. Aug. 1. The bids would be reviewed at the County Commission meeting of Aug. 6 and Deal said he expects a contractor would be selected at that meeting.
Once picked, the contractor would have 120 days to complete the substantial part of the project and another 30 days to finish any details, Deal said.
“That’s a tight five-month timeline, but we are aiming to have the road ready to reopen in January 2025,” he said.
