Phase I Archaeological Survey of Proposed Improvements and Widening of SR 5 from Old Flowers Road, South of McCaysville, Georgia to Copperhill, Tennessee – USACE Section

The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) plans operations and maintenance (O&M) improvements to State Route (SR) 5 from Old Flowers Road at the northern terminus of GDOT P.I. No. 0017038, a separate GDOT project (formerly under P.I. No. 621340) and ending at the SR 5 intersection with SR 60 (proceeding east into Georgia) and Tennessee (TN) SR 68/Ocoee Street (TN SR 68) (proceeding west into TN) in Fannin County, Georgia (GDOT P.I. No. 0017782) (Figure 1). This project has been surveyed by GDOT and documented in two reports (Trudeau 2018, 2022 [pending]), described in further detail below. GDOT P.I. No. 0017782 was originally part of P.I. No. 620490, which was subsequently reprogrammed as three separate projects, GDOT P.I. Nos. 0017782, 0017784, and 620490-.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is issuing a Section 404 permit for discrete portions of the project surrounding impacted Waters of the United States (WOTUS) (see Figure 1). The USACE has determined that the scope of analysis (SOA) for the proposed project is limited to impacted WOTUS and a 100-meter (m) (328-feet [ft]) buffer from the impacted waters. The impacted waters as determined by the SOA are located within GDOT project limits (Figures 2 and 3) which have been previously surveyed. Detailed project description for GDOT PI No. 0017782 follows.

Starting at Old Flowers Road, GDOT PI No. 0017782 proposes to maintain the existing two lanes by constructing a two-lane rural typical section that consists of two 3.7 m (12 ft) lanes (one lane in each direction) and 1.2 m (4 ft) paved shoulders with rumble strips. This rural typical section would transition to an urbanized typical section at approximately Hillcrest Drive as SR 5 enters the McCaysville city limits. This urban typical section would include two 3.4 m (11 ft) lanes (one lane in each direction) with a 3.7 m (12 ft) paved shoulder that includes curb and gutter and a 1.5 m (5 ft) sidewalk on each side of the roadway. This typical section would be maintained until the end of these improvements at the SR 5 intersection with SR 60 and TN SR 68. The proposed project would construct the minor improvements along existing SR 5 to continue to attract visitors to the downtown areas and to provide the downtown area with an improved roadway. A roundabout is proposed along SR 5 at the intersection of 1st Street and School Street. The proposed roundabout is a single-lane roundabout consisting of three legs (two for north/south access to SR 5 and one for access to the proposed SR 5 Connector/McCaysville Bypass [ P.I. Nos. 0017784 and 620490-]). No additional travel/thru lanes would be added to the existing SR 5. The roadway would remain a two-lane roadway because traffic volumes do not warrant capacity improvements within the project’s identified limits. Existing right-of-way (ROW) within P.I. No. 0017782 is approximately 15.2 m (50 ft) wide. Total project length is approximately 2.2 kilometers (km) (1.63 miles [mi]). Required ROW, temporary and permanent easements vary throughout the project corridor and range in width from approximately 16.9 m (55 ft) to 51.8 m (170 ft). GDOT P.I. No. 0017782 is paired with two other GDOT projects (P.I. Nos. 0017784 and 620490-) that provide a new corridor truck route that bypasses downtown McCaysville, Georgia and Copperhill, Tennessee (see Figure 1).