We have received bids on the project. The Cobb County Board of Commissioners will approve a construction contract with GDOT and a construction contract with the contractor at their 4-27 meeting. We expect to have the GDOT contract fully executed by the end of May. We are shooting for a Notice to Proceed (NTP) with the contractor on or before 6-1. The contractor knows that they have to start work within two days of the NTP. The first item of construction is to close Cheatham Hill Road at Ward Creek Drive for the relocation of a 36” water line which will be installed in the pavement of Cheatham Hill. The road will probably be closed for the summer.

Construction duration is 24 months from NTP. Cheatham Hill Road is first. Then Whitlock and Burnt Hickory Roads.

For most of the summer, everyone that uses Ward Creek Farm will have to turn left, head south toward the bridge and use Powder Springs or John Ward Road as detours. Detours will be advertised at least two weeks prior to the closure and the detours signed. One advantage to you and your neighbors during this closure that there will be no traffic in front of your subdivision except those who live in or serve the subdivision during this closure. 

Once the water line has been installed during the summer, the water line installation isn’t completed. For the ties to the existing 36” water transmission line, the existing line has to be turn off; this is a big deal for water service in the western half of Cobb County. So this work has to occur between about 10-15-21 and 4-1-22 (fall/winter) when water usage typically decreases. For the two tie-ins on each end, one end being close to Ward Creek Farm, the contractor has been given 10 calendar days for both tie-ins. Cheatham Hill Road will be open during this work but there may be lane closures since the excavation or hole required for these tie-ins will be significant. We should know more from the contractor once we get them under contract as to when the 10 days will be used. 

Please keep in mind that shutting off this 36” water transmission line doesn’t impact the water distribution lines that feed all the houses; there are no houses that feed directly off of the 36” water line. Everyone will still have the same water supply as you have today through the distribution lines.

There will be a significant amount of work on the section of Cheatham Hill Road between Ward Creek Farm and Cavan Dr. for the next year or so. This section is the first order of business for the contractor. The reasons for this is as follows:

1. The existing 36” water transmission line is on your side of Cheatham Hill Road and right against the existing R/W line. It is in the way of a retaining wall.
2. So the 36” water transmission line has to be relocated in the pavement of Cheatham Hill Road, hence the closure. We are doing this during summer vacation when traffic decreases and no school buses.
3. In the fall/winter, the ties from the new 36” line to the existing 36” line will be completed over a 10 calendar period as described above. This is the only time that the contractor will be allowed to work 24-7; we have to get that transmission line back in serviced as quickly as we can. If there was another transmission line failure while this line was down, a significant area of Cobb County could be without water for days.
4. Sometime after the old line is deactivated, Cobb EMC will relocate their power line.
5. About this same time as the Cobb EMC relocations, the old water line will be dug up and removed.
6. Then the retaining wall construction can begin in about the same area as the water line was removed from.
7. While the retaining walls are being constructed, storm drainage and a new water distribution line (6” water line being replaced with an 8” line; this is the line you get water from but the new line will be installed adjacent to the old and cut-ins may require temporary disruptions in service. If needed, those disruptions will be advertised in advance. Those will only take hours, not days.) will be constructed.
8. Once the drainage and water line is installed, the retaining wall will be finished and the trail constructed.

The above is the most complicated section on the entire three section (Cheatham Hill Road, Whitlock Ave. and Burnt Hickory Road), 3.5 mile trail construction. The construction period is 24 months from the Notice to Proceed. But the Cheatham Hill section, especially along the section from Ward Creek Farm to Cavan Dr. should be finished within the first 12 months or so. 

James Hudgins, Program Pre-Construction Manager