State Route 51 in Reed Creek Now Open

If you’ve been using a detour to get around the State Route 51 sinkhole repair site, you’ll be glad to know the road is now open. Teri Pope with the Georgia Department of Transportation says Crews finished putting the final road stripes on late this morning.

Pope says the thoroughfare is now open to all traffic traveling in the Reed Creek area of Hart County.  Pope said, “State Route 51 is now open to traffic. The sinkhole has been repaired, and the road has been reopened. It opened about 1:00 this afternoon. And we’re very thankful to get the repair work done and reopen the road, so that folks can use it.”

According to Pope, crews received many praises from motorists once the road was open. Pope said, “Folks were very excited. We got some ‘Thank Yous!” and folks cheering out the window when they were able to use the road again.”

The sinkhole opened up on State Route 51 on May 6, after a giant metal culvert pipe, some 40 feet below the road surface deteriorated and collapsed.  Once the asphalt was removed, Georgia DOT Engineers found a cavity 10 feet square at the top and 20 feet deep taking up almost the entire northbound lane.  The new culvert pipe was installed last month. GDOT was hoping to open the road earlier this month, but the recent heavy rains delayed the project.