Addendum Phase I Archaeological Survey for the Proposed Westside Truck Route Waynesboro, Burke County, Georgia

Edwards-Pitman, Incorporated (EP) completed an addendum Phase I archaeological survey for the proposed westside truck route in Burke County, Georgia (TIA PI No. 0011372, TIA Project No. RC07-000009, SAS-2018-00130, and HP-181213-003). The survey was conducted in February 2021 and sought to identify archaeological sites in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and in accordance with the Georgia Department of Transportation’s (GDOT’s) Environmental Procedures Manual (EPM) (GDOT 2013) and Georgia Council of Professional Archaeologists (GCPA) standards (GCPA 2019). The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is issuing a Section 404 permit for the entire project length and will be the lead federal agency.

The proposed Transportation Investment Act (TIA) project is a truck bypass project that will connect State Route (SR) 56 with United States Highway (US) 25. The project also proposes to improve a small portion of Lovers Lane from its intersection with SR 24/56/80 to approximately 0.3 kilometers (km) (0.2 miles [mi]) north of the intersection. The new location for the roadway would begin from this point on Lovers Lane to the tie-in with the existing intersection of US 25 and Industrial Drive. A new intersection would also be created at West Quaker Road. The proposed roadway would consist of two 3.4-meter (m) (11-foot [ft]) travel lanes. A new at-grade railroad crossing would be installed at the intersection of the bypass with Norfolk Southern Railroad. Three existing at-grade railroad crossings in Burke County would be removed. Existing right-of-way (ROW) along Norfolk Southern Railroad varies from 13.7 to 30.48 m (45 to 100 ft) wide; no required ROW is expected for these three crossings. A roundabout would be constructed at the intersection of Lovers Lane and SR 24/56/80 to reduce the number of intersection vehicle conflicts and would correct the deficient existing horizontal intersection geometry. The existing ROW on Lovers Lane is 24.4 m (80 ft) wide with required ROW in this area varying from 3.1 to 48.8 m (10 to 160 ft) wide. The total project length is 3.4 km (2.1 mi).

EP originally surveyed the project in July 2017 covering an Environmental Survey Boundary (ESB) that examined two potential alignment alternatives (Chieffo and Trudeau 2017). The project plans have now advanced to where an Area of Potential Effect (APE) can be determined. The APE consists of all existing and required ROW and easements within the current project limits. The APE was compared to the prior ESB utilized by Chieffo and Trudeau (2017) and it was determined that a portion of the existing ROW along Lovers Lane extends outside of the prior survey area; therefore, additional archaeological survey was required. In addition, the proposed removal of three at-grade railroad crossings of the Norfolk Southern Railroad at Mann Drive, Walker Street, and Grubbs Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive were also added to the project since the original survey. In total, four noncontiguous areas were investigated during this addendum Phase I Addendum Phase I Archaeological Survey for the Proposed Westside Truck Route, Waynesboro, Burke County, Georgia survey. These four areas are also referred to as the addendum survey areas, all of which total 3.6 hectares (ha) (9 acres [ac]) in size. The first area, Addendum Survey Area 1 (ASA1), is located off of Lovers Lane where the portion of the current APE extends outside of the previous survey coverage (Chieffo and Trudeau 2017). For ASA1, a 30.5 m (100 ft) addendum Expanded Survey Corridor (ESC) buffer was added and measures approximately 50 m (164.0 ft) wide and 125 m (410.1 ft) long. For the remaining areas related to removal of the railroad crossings, the project design is presently not developed enough for the project APE footprint in these areas to be determined; therefore, three ESBs, provided by the project design team at American Consulting Professionals, LLC, were utilized. These ESBs include all areas of currently known and foreseeable ground disturbance. The ESB at Mann Drive, also identified as ASA2, measures approximately 90 m (295.3 ft) wide and 105 m (344.5 ft) long. The ESB at Walker Street, also identified as ASA3, measures approximately 88 m (288.7 ft) wide and 107 m (351.1 ft) long along Norfolk Southern Railroad and approximately 72 m (236.2 ft) wide and 33 m (108.3 ft) long along Walker Street. Finally, the ESB at Grubbs Street and MLK Jr. Drive, also identified as ASA4, measures approximately 75 m (246.1 ft) wide and 113 m (370.7 ft) long along Norfolk Southern Railroad and approximately 70 m (229.7 ft) wide and 31 m (101.7 ft) long along MLK Jr. Drive.

The addendum Phase I archaeology survey included visual inspection and systematic shovel testing throughout the addendum survey areas, in addition to metal detection specifically within ASA3 and ASA4 due to their location within the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWSAC) study area of the Battle of Waynesborough (GA027). As a result, one new archaeological site, 9BK553, was identified partially within ASA3. This site is an early twentieth-century residence and a commercial business owned by the Standard Oil Company, in addition to a later mid-twentieth-century industrial operation potentially associated with the Standard Oil Company. No Civil War-era artifacts were recovered. The site is located immediately south of the NRHP-listed Waynesboro Historic District. The investigated portion of the site lacks integrity and significant data potential and does not contribute to the eligibility of the district. However, since only a small portion of the site was examined due to reaching the ASA3 limits, additional data regarding these occupations could exist within the unknown portion of the site. As such, 9BK553 is of unknown eligibility for listing on the NRHP under Criterion D as it was not fully delineated. It is recommended that the unknown portions of 9BK553 be avoided and protected by the establishment of an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) and orange barrier fencing be installed along the not yet established APE for the length of the site in order to prevent any inadvertent impacts from construction.