Gainesville – Georgia DOT announces a public information open house meeting to discuss the proposed replacement of the bridge on State Route 284/Clark’s Bridge Road over Lake Lanier in Hall County.  The open house is scheduled for Tuesday, April 10, 2007 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.

This open house format meeting will be held in the Lake Lanier Rowing Club located on State Route 284 at the Olympic Rowing Venue. Georgia DOT engineers will be available to discuss the proposed projects. There will be no formal presentation.

DOT Communications Officer Teri Pope explained, “to accommodate the pedestrian tunnel that will allow people to cross under the road rather than cross the road in traffic, we have changed the plan we showed people last April. Since it has changed significantly we wanted to let the community know what is happening and gather their input. Please come see the plans and let us know what you think!”

At last year’s open house DOT planned to build an entirely new bridge parallel to the existing one so traffic could use the old bridge uninterrupted.  The change has occurred with the tunnel. “The tunnel has moved closer to the Rowing Club Building and that change will require us to literally cut into the road and dig a hole for the tunnel.  Crews will have to close State Route 284 for up to 120 days during construction to build the pedestrian tunnel. You will be able to access the rowing venue and homes but you must approach them from their side of the bridge – remember, you won’t be able to drive through the Rowing Venue Area at all. The tunnel construction area will be closed to all traffic.”

Anyone unable to attend the public information open house may send comments on the project to Harvey Keepler, Georgia DOT, 3993 Aviation Circle, Atlanta, Georgia 30336.  All comments will be considered in the development of the final project design and must be received by April 24, 2007.

        After the open house, you can view the displays of the project at the Georgia DOT District Office located at 2505 Athens

Highway in Gainesville. The phone number at the DOT District office is 770-532-5526. Please call and make an appointment to ensure that someone is there to show you the project information.  Online the plans will also be available on the DOT website at www.dot.state.ga.us. On the home page choose “Public Outreach” and select the project’s County and choose go. A list of DOT
projects in that County will appear and you can select the one you’d like to view.

Everyone is invited to attend the open house.