Archaeological Survey for the Proposed Repairs to Three Heart of Georgia Railroad Bridges Crisp and Sumter Counties, Georgia (Bridge 2 at Cherokee Creek).

The proposed project consists of repairs to the Heart of Georgia Railroad corridor between Preston Georgia and Cordele Georgia, a distance of approximately 50 miles (80.4 kilometers) (see attached project location map). The project corridor is located in Webster, Sumter, and Crisp counties. The rail corridor improvements would include replacement of 35,000 wood crossties with new wood crossties on the same alignment and grade as the existing railroad tracks. The improvements would also include repairs to three timber railroad bridges on the same rail corridor. The repairs would consist of posting and replacement of defective bridge caps, stringers, and deck ties. Posting would involve cutting out portions of defective vertical timber piles and replacing that section with like material. Similarly, defective caps and stringers would be replaced with like materials. Therefor-e, no new pilings would be driven into the soil. Bridge 1 is located in Sumter County in Americus, Georgia and crosses Muckolee Creek. Bridge 2 is located in Sumter County east of De Soto, Georgia and crosses Chokee Creek. Bridge 3 is located in Crisp County west of Cordele, Georgia and crossed Gum Creek, on the east side of Lake Blackshear.