First Day of Toomsuba Road Closure

Today is the first day of Will Garret Road off I-20 being closed. The street was closed by the Lauderdale County Road Department to allow contractors to begin a 4-6 week long road repair project.

Store manager, Angela Swartz, of KAO Campground says the 4–6-weeks project will cause some inconvenience but it’s a project that needed to be done.

“It’s just going to be a temporary inconvenience”, said Swartz. “Our campers will need to come in from a different a exist, Russel, for a short amount of time. It is an inconvenience we are more than welcome to put up with.”

The previous bridge on Will Garrett Road only held about 3 tons Swartz told Twin States News. District 2 Supervisor, Wayman Newell says over time the bridge deteriorated.

“The Lauderdale County board was scared that the state would come in and close the bridge. So, we put out bids for a new bridge, which was a little over $1 million “explained Supervisor Newell. “It is almost completed. Now we have to take out the old bridge and tie in the new

bridge with the existing road so we can open it up.”

Since the old bridge was rated at a low weight, RV’s and campers were directed by the GPS to take a longer route to avoid the bridge. Swartz says now campers will have the confidence to cross it.

“The bridge will be great because it will update their GPS for them. Every time we make a reservation on the phone. We have to make sure to tell them, “Please take exit 165. We understand that the GPS is probably going to send you around”, so this way they are going to have the confidence that when they see the bridge, it will be able to handle their very expensive

units.

Supervisor Newell says the new bridge will be rated at about 30 to 40 tons.