Burns & McDonnell was contracted by Norfolk Southern Railway Company to conduct cultural resource investigations of a proposed communications system project from Jacksonville, Florida to Forest Park, Georgia. The proposed project involves the installation of a communications system within 320 miles of railroad right-of-way through the following counties in Georgia: Bibb, Charlton, Clayton, Clinch, Cook, Crisp, Dooly, Echols, Fulton, Henry, Houston, Lowndes, Lamar, Monroe, Pike, Spalding, Tift, and Turner. The construction will take place within heavily disturbed Norfolk Southern Railroad right-of-way, where the primary method of construction will be rail plow. This method of installation will directly impact an area 10 inches wide, approximately 12 feet from the center ofthe rail line, in the ballast or embankment of the railroad bed. According to the Georgia state site file, six previously identified sites (9BI120, 9BI121, 9M0462, 9M0463, 9M0468, and 9M0482) were potentially in or adjacent to the right-of-way in Bibb and Monroe counties. In consultation with the Georgia Historic Preservation Division, Burns & McDonnell recommended surveying the project corridor adjacent to these six sites in order to determine if they extend into the right-of-way. This report describes the results of Phase I testing of the project corridor abutting these six sites. No significant cultural resources were observed in the right-of-way.
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