Olive Road bridge is truly one of the worst, railroad says

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Often discussed but still lacking a solution, the notoriously low Olive Road bridge was a topic again at Tuesday’s Augusta Commission meeting.

The railroad over across Olive Road near White Street is too low for a standard box truck to fit under it – but that doesn’t stop drivers from trying.

A truck gets stuck under it every few weeks, despite a plethora of warning signs and signals.

A representative with the CSX railroad spoke to city leaders Tuesday about the bridge, which is nothing if not durable.

He said of the 9,000 bridges and 28 states CSX manages, the Olive Road bridge is infamous for them too.

“Of all the bridges that we have, this one and another one in Athens, Georgia, believe it or not, are two of the most destructive bridges on our network,” said Regional Vice President, Craig Camuso.

CSX says every time someone hits the bridge, it causes problems with the tracks, and the company has already spent about a quarter million dollars on repairs in the past three years.

Right now, the biggest struggle is finding a solution that’s financially responsible.

Just raising the bridge two inches would cost nearly $1 million, and company officials say that’s too expensive.

“We can talk about losing track time, we can talk about replacing the rail but our biggest issue is safety,” said Camuso.

Closing Olive Road also isn’t a solution, officials have said in the past. That’s because it’s a crucial route for emergency vehicles, and without it, they’d take longer to get where they’re needed.

One solution brought up by Augusta Commission member Wayne Guilfoyle was a PVC pipe arch marking the height of the bridge that he says would be an added warning system and would cost $26,000.

That solution hasn’t yet gained traction, but it’s only been recently pushed by Guilfoyle.

Another was for an over that would soar into the millions.

“What I want to do is begin a dialogue. Begin a conversation about an issue that has really been towards the top of the agenda for CSX for a number of years,” said Camuso.

“To see if we could bring this unfortunate incident that occurs on a more regular schedule than we would want and hopefully we can fix it,” said Mayor Garnett Johnson.

Trimming the budget

Also on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting were money-saving efforts.

The commission approved a “working document” rightsizing plan to save $10 million.

Interim City Takiyah Douse put forth the plan a few weeks ago in an effort to keep from raising property taxes.

Meanwhile, Mayor Garnett Johnson has proposed asking every city department to come back with plans to save 5% and 10%. At Tuesday’s meeting, a substitute motion was made to bring the budget-cut model down to 3% and 5%.

That motion failed and commissioners decided to continue the conversation during a Sept. 15 workshop on the rightsizing plan.

Also Tuesday ...

• The Augusta Commission approved $310,000 from the contingency fund as an emergency procurement to replace locks and hinges at the county jail and deferred to the interim to come back with recommendations on funding a new jail pod.
• Johnson gave a key to the city to Grammy award-winning Augustan Tony Mercedes, who has won publisher Grammys for Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” and TLC’s “No Scrubs.” Mercedes is a 1980 graduate of Glenn Hills High School.
• Leaders decided to hold workshops in the coming weeks and months on creating firm ordinances for food trucks to operate in Richmond County, a panhandling ordinance like Columbia County’s and bringing departments together to discuss transient guests overstaying in Augusta hotels.
• Commissioners approved $5,000 in renovations to Hickman Park from the Trust of Oakland Park and $28,500 for restrooms at Vernon Forest Park.
• The approved $195,000 for running the Nov. 7 election on a 0.05% sales use tax to fund a new James Brown Arena
• Funding was approved for street lights for the Windsor Spring Road corridor between Meadowbrook Drive and Crosscreek Road, plus $600,000 in American Rescue Plan funds for streetlight construction.

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