I-75 Macon/Forsyth Area

[Fred Defender]

I just registered on the site and thought that I might be able to find someone who can tell me how and when I-75 was constructed between Macon and Forsyth. Since the mid-1960's, I've been making pilgrimages up and down I-75 between Ohio and Florida, between Florida and Ohio, and, since the late-80's, between Florida and the North Georgia mountains. The earliest that I can remember going through this area with my parents must have been in 1966.

I remember, prior to the late 1980's seeing the old overpasses in and around Forsyth. Those, as I recall, carried dates of 1957 prior to their being replaced and reconstructed. Several miles south of Forsyth, Simmons Road crosses the interstate. The Simmons Road overpass was constructed in 1961. Farther south, just north of the I-475 junction, Pea Ridge Road crosses and that overpass was constructed in 1966. The Rumble Road overpass has been replaced and I do not know when the orginal overpass was built. I know that, prior to the construction of I-475 and its tie-in to I-75, what is now I-75 connected to US23 on the north side of Macon, via, I believe, New Forsyth Road.

I'm just curious as to what parts of this road were built and when they were built. If New Forsyth Road was constructed in 1961, was there no overpass at Pea Ridge originally?

Not a big deal - just curious.

[Eth]

We actually had a similar discussion a few months ago (more details here: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=204.msg317966#msg317966).

The short version is that the portion between SR 42 (and also US 23 at the time) and SR 18 appears to have been built in the late 1950s, then from SR 18 to what is now the Pate Road half-interchange in the early '60s. At Pate Road, it would have indeed continued onto then-SR 148/New Forsyth Road until the completion of the freeway down to the I-16 split in 1966. New Forsyth Road itself is just a little bit older, first appearing on GDOT maps in 1955.

[Fred Defender]

Thanks a lot, Eth! Sorry to be travelling previously trodden paths.

I have, indeed, seen that 1963 GDOT map which shows I-75 completed between Bolingbroke and Forsyth. I still question the Pea Ridge overpass and its construction. Could it be that there was an earlier overpass at that location that needed to be lengthened when the I-75/475 junction was constructed? That would explain the 1966 construction date.

[NE2]

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5112

[Tom958]

Oh, wow. To me, this is definitely the X-Filesiest Interstate highway in Georgia.   

And welcome to the forums, Fred!

My own theory (which I have no intention of documenting) is that GA 148, which was was completed by 1955, was almost immediately appropriated (before anyone could build a driveway to it) as I-75. Stating what I've only implied before, I suspect that one of the two widely separated I-75 roadways between I-475 and Rumble Road is actually legacy GA 148. That suggests that perhaps the 'Bolingbrook' temporary end of I-75 might not have been very neatly executed, but more a matter of GA 148 being added onto bit by bit. If that was the case, it may have been that the second roadway of I-75 and the Pea Ridge overpass were not completed until... 1966! That would've meant that Pea Ridge Road traffic would've crossed GA 148 at grade-- neither a partial bridge nor severing of Pea Ridge Road seems believable to me.

Now, having said all of that: The Bunn Road overpass(I can't find a Simmons road overpass) was indeed finished in 1961-- I can see the date clearly on Streetview. But I don't see any date at all on the Pea Ridge overpass. Are you sure it was dated 1966? 

[NE2]

SR 148 was in the same location as southbound I-75. Pea Ridge did indeed cross at grade.
http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=4&lat=32.963&lon=-83.817&year=1954
Bridge date 1966: http://uglybridges.com/1100250

[Fred Defender]

Oh, wow. To me, this is definitely the X-Filesiest Interstate highway in Georgia.   

And welcome to the forums, Fred!

My own theory (which I have no intention of documenting) is that GA 148, which was was completed by 1955, was almost immediately appropriated (before anyone could build a driveway to it) as I-75. Stating what I've only implied before, I suspect that one of the two widely separated I-75 roadways between I-475 and Rumble Road is actually legacy GA 148. That suggests that perhaps the 'Bolingbrook' temporary end of I-75 might not have been very neatly executed, but more a matter of GA 148 being added onto bit by bit. If that was the case, it may have been that the second roadway of I-75 and the Pea Ridge overpass were not completed until... 1966! That would've meant that Pea Ridge Road traffic would've crossed GA 148 at grade-- neither a partial bridge nor severing of Pea Ridge Road seems believable to me.

Now, having said all of that: The Bunn Road overpass(I can't find a Simmons road overpass) was indeed finished in 1961-- I can see the date clearly on Streetview. But I don't see any date at all on the Pea Ridge overpass. Are you sure it was dated 1966?

Thanks for the welcome, Tom!

I see on Google Maps that it is Bunn Road. Sorry about that. GDOT has the overpass marked "Simmons Rd" and has for as long as I can remember. But except for the Pea Ridge and Rumble Road overpasses, it it the only other overpass between I-475 and GA18.

I use http://nationalbridges.com/ for my bridge dating info. You need to look up the county FIPS code but it is pretty thorough and reasonably accurate.

P.S.: Rumor has it that Crist is back to chasing ambulances for John Morgan.