Phase I Terrestrial and Underwater Archaeological Surveys for the Proposed Improvements to SR 26/US 80, Chatham County, Georgia

Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc. (EPEI) conducted a phase I archaeological survey for the proposed improvements to state route (SR) 26/United States (US) 80 project (Georgia Department of Transportation [GDOT] P.I. No. 0010560, HP No. 141114-002), in Chatham County, Georgia, in three phases: March 2016, December 2017 through January 2018, and April 2018. In addition, SEARCH, Inc. conducted an underwater survey within Bull River and Lazaretto Creek in March 2018 for the same GDOT project. EPEI was contracted by T.Y. Lin INTernational to locate and evaluate archaeological resources within the proposed Area of Potential Effect (APE) in addition to a 100-foot buffer area around the APE is identified as the Environmental Survey Corridor (ESC) in order to evaluate potential effects to cultural resources in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA).

The project is located approximately 5 miles east of the city limits of Savannah, Georgia. The proposed project would replace bridges at Bull River and Lazaretto Creek with two-lane bridges that include bike and pedestrian improvements. The new bridge over Bull River will be constructed to the south/east of the existing bridge. Additionally, the project would widen the roadway from Johnny Mercer Boulevard to Old US 80 on Tybee Island with bikeable 10=foot shoulders and raise the roadway profile up to a minimum of 7.5 feet to minimize road closures caused by tidal flooding. The total project length is approximately 5.8 miles. The changes have been determined to accomplish the purpose of this project, which is to improve travel between Savannah and Tybee Island to and to ensure the integrity of the SR 28/ US 8 bridges.