Garrison Drive bridge replacement awaits action on right-of-way agreement

Habersham County commissioners were scheduled on Sept. 15, 2025, to consider a proposed memorandum of agreement with the Georgia Department of Transportation covering right-of-way expenses tied to replacement of the Garrison Drive bridge over Mud Creek. The agenda placed the proposed approval before the Board of Commissioners, but does not show whether members approved, rejected or changed it.

The unresolved agreement is a practical step in a bridge replacement project because right-of-way work can involve the land interests or access needed to carry out construction. At stake is how expenses associated with those interests would be handled between the county and GDOT before work can move forward at the Mud Creek crossing.

The public record in this matter begins with the Sept. 15 agenda item, which identified the Garrison Drive bridge replacement and proposed a memorandum addressing its right-of-way expenses. That scheduling established that county commissioners were being asked to consider an agreement with GDOT; it did not itself create a completed agreement or document a subsequent land-acquisition step.

GDOT and Habersham County are the governmental parties named in the proposed memorandum. The agenda indicates that county commissioners were to decide whether to approve it, while GDOT’s role was connected to right-of-way expenses for the bridge replacement. It does not describe the terms either party supported, identify potentially affected property owners, or record public comments on the proposal.

The memorandum remained a proposal in the record reviewed here. No documented vote, approval, rejection, amendment or implementation milestone establishes that the agreement took effect. The agenda also does not disclose a dollar amount, allocation of costs, the agreement’s detailed terms, or which properties, if any, could be affected by right-of-way work.

The next concrete public step is a county meeting record or later official action stating what commissioners did with the proposed GDOT memorandum. Until that appears, residents cannot determine from this record whether the agreement was adopted or whether any right-of-way work will follow for the Garrison Drive bridge replacement.