Second Addendum to a Phase I Archaeological Survey of Easements and Road Widening of SR 26/U.S. 80, Bulloch County, Georgia.

In April of 2017, VHB completed an archaeological survey of 14 easement modifications to SR 26/U.S. 80 near Statesboro, Georgia (GDOT Project No. STP00- 0005-00(829); PI No. 0005829). Since the time of the original archaeological survey completed by New South Associates (NSA) in November of 2014 and a survey addendum, also completed by NSA in December of 2015, a series of 14 easements have been added to the project. The current Phase I addendum serves to address the addition of 14 easements now required along the SR 26/U.S. 80 corridor. The original project plans to widen and improve a segment of SR 26/U.S. 80 from County Road (CR) 491/Amanda Road to just east of CR 423/0id Lee Field Road. The proposed project would include the construction of passing and turning lanes within the project limits. A passing lane is proposed in the eastern direction beginning approximately 1,100 feet (335 m) east of Burkhalter Road and ending at Grimshaw Road. A passing lane is also proposed in the western direction beginning approximately 1,000 feet (304m) west of CR 350/Bud Lee Lane. Auxiliary turning lanes both right and left, would be added along the corridor as warranted by traffic data.

The Area of Potential Effects (APE) for this project has been defined as the easements and existing and required right-of-way (ROW). The existing ROW varied between approximately 48-70 feet (14-21 m). The required ROW varied between 51.27-85.87 feet (15-26 m) from the centerline with an average required ROW of 70 feet (21 m). The total length of the proposed project is 3.3 miles (5.3 km). The APE being considered for the current survey is limited to the additional easement locations and project changes since the last survey.

The current survey serves as the second addendum to previous surveys conducted by NSA in 2014 and 2015 (Davis 2014; McQuinn and Matternes 2015). Thirteen of the proposed easements fall within areas previously surveyed by former investigations; however, one easement is located within the boundaries of a previously recorded archaeological site. A driveway easement totaling approximately 522.40 square feet (sq.ft) is proposed within the site boundaries of Bulloch Memorial Gardens Cemetery (9BU102) located on the north side of the SR 26/U.S. 80 APE. Since thirteen easements associated with the current design fall within areas covered by previous archaeological surveys, fieldwork for this addendum focused on the 522.40 sq.ft driveway easement located within the boundaries of 9BU102. The work for this survey was conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended (36 CFR 800) and OCGA 36-72, and this survey was intended to determine the presence of significant archaeological features, including burials, in the project's APE.

Archaeological field survey consisted of a thorough pedestrian survey and subsurface probing of the easement footprint within the Bulloch Memorial Gardens Cemetery (9BU102). The cemetery was established in 1965 with the first internments occurring later in the same decade. Subsurface probing was conducted at 2 ft. intervals along transects spaced 2 ft. apart. Pedestrian survey and subsurface probing within the easement footprint did not identify any potential depressions or fill associated with a burial.

Based on the findings of the survey, no potential burials or burial features were located within the footprint of the proposed easement within the Bulloch Memorial Gardens Cemetery (9BU102). Site 9BU102 is listed as having an unknown National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) eligibility determination under Criterion D. This addendum does not offer a change to this site's unknown eligibility. Based on the results of this survey, the easement located within 9BU102 does not contain significant data potential, therefore the site's overall eligibility determination remains unknown under Criterion D.

            This addendum survey addresses 14 new easements recently added to the widening and improvements to SR 26/U.S. 80 under project PI No. 0005829. The added modifications include driveway easements, permanent easements, temporary easements, and demo easements. Of the 14 new easements, 13 fall within areas that have been previously subjected to archaeological survey. In total, the 3.3 mile (5.3 km) SR 26/U.S. 80 project corridor has been surveyed five times (Richardson 1996; Pietak 2009; Williams 2012; Davis 2014; McQuinn and Matternes 2015). These five separate investigations provide adequate survey coverage for 13 of the 14 addendum easements. Please see Figures 2A-2H for addendum easement locations and previous survey coverage. However, one easement has not been covered by previous survey efforts. This driveway easement, totaling 522.40 sq.ft (see Figure 2B), is located within the boundaries of Bulloch Memorial Gardens Cemetery (9BU102).

            As the rest of the cemetery falls beyond the edge of the APE, it was not evaluated during the survey, and the NRHP eligibility under Criterion Dis unknown. Because grave features are present very near the existing ROW and the NRHP eligibility is unknown, this resource should continue to be considered an ESA, demarcated with Orange Barrier Fencing as currently depicted on the design plans in Appendix B. Development of the driveway easement will have no effect on the NRHP eligibility of 9BU102.