COVINGTON, Ga. — U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Stonecrest, is scheduled to visit the collapsed Access Road bridge in Covington Friday morning as part of a tour of his congressional district to highlight the new federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Johnson and Newton County Chairman Marcello Banes were to visit the bridge site Friday, Dec. 17, at 10 a.m. at 1905 Access Road in Covington to tout the federal infrastructure law and speak with constituents, according to information from Johnson's office.
A federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) investigation has halted work on the bridge since an Oct. 19 collapse killed a worker and injured two others.
Workers were dismantling the 84-year-old structure as part of a $3 million project to replace it with a new bridge when the incident occurred.
The bridge, formerly part of U.S. Hwy. 278, crosses the Yellow River and runs parallel to I-20 near the interstate's eastbound lanes about 200 yards east of the Crowell Road/Almon Road interchange.
Access Road is a major east-west route between Covington and Conyers and carried more than 9,000 vehicles per day before the collapse.
As proposed, the new bridge will be 320 feet long and 43 feet wide and include two walls along the approaches south of the road to minimize impacts to a pump station and nearby trailer park.
President Joe Biden in November signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which provides $550 billion over four years for infrastructure, including roads, bridges and mass transit, water infrastructure and broadband.
"The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law represents generational change and investments in America’s future," stated a news release from Johnson's office.
"The infrastructure law will create millions of good-paying union jobs with a once-in-a-century investment in rebuilding infrastructure in Georgia, including roads and bridges, transit, rail, clean drinking water and wastewater systems and high-speed broadband networks."
The congressman also was scheduled today, Dec. 16, to visit a Vulcan Materials Co. quarry at 8648 Covington Hwy. in Lithonia to tout the new law.
