It's been less than 24 hours, and a truck has already tested the new warning system Cobb County installed to alert drivers that their too-tall vehicles will not fit through the Concord Road covered bridge.
A truck took out at least one of the PVC pipes suspended from mast arms installed Thursday. County spokesman Ross Cavitt said a truck traveling on the Smyrna side of the bridge north of Nickajack Creek hit one of the pipes “at a high rate of speed.”
“But the good news is the truck did turn around and not venture down to the bridge,” Cavitt said.
A Facebook user, Kellie Meckes shared a photo with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of one of the missing pipes installed on the mast arm just before the bridge over the East-West Connector.
The mast arms and pipes installed on both ends of the bridge join the existing protective metal beams that sit much closer to the structure and have prevented almost two dozen collisions since they were installed in late 2017.
Cavitt said the Cobb Department of Transportation is exploring a way to make sure the pipes don’t spin over the mast arm when they are hit. Any pipes that are damaged or knocked off will be replaced with others the county has in stock, he added.
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The new pipes are suspended at a seven-foot clearance, which is the same maximum height for the one-lane bridge spanning the creek. After drivers see existing bridge height warning signs, vehicles that are too large to pass under the bridge will smack the pipes and follow signs directing them to turn around to avoid crashing into the protective metal beams.
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County commissioners in April approved a contract with Detection Engineering Technology, Inc. to install the mast arms and pipes at a cost not to exceed $19,540. Cavitt said the work will be paid for by sales tax dollars set aside in the county's budget for Concord Road improvements.
The covered bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a centerpiece of Cobb’s Concord Covered Bridge Historic District, which features homes and mills dating to the 1800s.
READ | Explore the history and beauty of Georgia's covered bridges
While it has a long and treasured history, the covered bridge is best known for repeated accidents as inattentive drivers keep trying to fit tall vehicles under its low rafters. It has been the victim of 22 close calls since December 2017 when the county installed the protective metal beams at both ends of the bridge as part of an $800,000 taxpayer-funded rehabilitation. The beams are designed to absorb the blow, protecting the historic wooden bridge.
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