Archeological Survey of Four Proposed Bridge Improvement Projects in Catoosa County, Georgia

The survey reported here was designed to locate archeological sites in the areas of potential effect for four bridge improvement projects. The four bridges, which are all located in Catoosa County, consist of: Twin Cedars Road at its crossing of Dry Branch; Mag Williams Road (North) at Blue Springs Branch; Mag Williams Road (South) at a small tributary of Dry Branch; and Mack Smith Road at a small tributary of West Chickamauga Creek. The proposed improvements consist mainly of raising the existing roads and installing box culverts. In such cases, the areas of potential effect are limited to existing rights-of-way. In the case of the Mag Williams Road (North) project, the proposed improvements consist instead of removing the old bridge. In this case, the area of potential effect extends slightly beyond the existing right-of-way, as defined by the project engineers. Archival research conducted at the Georgia Archaeological Site Files revealed the presence of no previously reported sites in the immediate vicinity of the project areas. Additional research at the University of Georgia libraries suggested that houses were present near but not within the areas of potential effect during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, given the small size of the project areas, it seemed unlikely that the field survey would encounter any remains associated with these structures, nor any other archeological sites. The field survey of the project areas included visual inspection of exposed ground surfaces and the excavation of shovel tests in areas where surface exposure was inadequate. True to our expectations, no sites were encountered. Thus, the proposed projects will have no effect to any archeological sites.