Hammitt bridge set to open

By By Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Getting from Highway 31 to Bethel Street will become a lot easier and quicker with the opening of a new concrete and steel reinforced bridge over the CSX Railroad this week.
The two-lane bridge and a new street linking Longhorn Pass to Georgia Street will be opened to traffic following a Jan. 15 1:30 p.m. ribbon-cutting, according to Jeff Johnson, director of the city’s Department of Development.
Johnson said the long-awaited event would take place with a limited amount of fanfare.
Participating will be Mayor Dwight Tankersley and other city officials and department heads, State senator Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, representatives of the Alabama Department of Transpor-tation and Reed Contracting Services of Huntsville, general contractor, and others. The public is invited.
The old Hammitt Street wooden bridge, which was built by the L&N Railroad in the early 1900s, was closed when bridge construction began and will no longer be used by the city. Its disposition will be in the hands of CSX Railroad. At the same time Hammitt Street from Georgia Street to McDaniel’s Landing Apartments was closed to traffic. Hammitt will continue to be used for access to the city cemetery.
The opening of the railroad bridge and connecting roadway will mark completion of the first phase of a North Hartselle Bypass, extending from Highway 31 to Highway 36 at the I-65 interchange.