Construction to close section of Dietz Road for a month

photo This traffic information sign denotes an upcoming change involving a speed bump in the 800 block of Dietz Road in Catoosa County. Plans include lowering the hilly road instead of using the traffic calming device.

A section of Dietz Road, one of the busier routes in Catoosa County, Ga., will be closed to through traffic for at least a month this summer during a construction project.

County officials will open contractors' bids July 16 for a project to lower a hilly 800-foot section of Dietz Road south of Cloud Springs Road.

Taking the hill out will improve the line of sight for drivers, county Projects Administrator Christal Thomas said.

That will make it easier for residents of the 135-home Cinderella Hills subdivision to get onto Dietz Road, she said.

It also means a large rubber speed hump, or speed table, on Dietz Road can be removed, she said.

Thomas doesn't believe the traffic-calming device can be reused elsewhere in the county.

"It gave its life," she said Thursday at a pre-bid conference in Ringgold at the Catoosa County Administrative Building. "Parts of it are missing, I think."

A handful of contractors came to the pre-bid conference.

County Road Department chief Buster Brown said whoever wins the bid for the roadwork "can push [the speed table] off to the side, and we'll come get it. Appreciate it."

The project initially was to go out to bid a year ago, but that was delayed so utilities such as water, gas and fiber-optic lines could be lowered, said Wayne McCoy, a civil engineer hired as a consultant by the county.

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Construction should start soon after bids are open and must end by Oct. 22.

People who live alongside the construction work will be able to use Dietz Road the entire time, but the road will be closed to through traffic for at least a month, McCoy said.

The project will be funded through special purpose local option sales tax money, a levy of 1 cent per $1 of sales.

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6651.

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