DALLAS - Construction projects designed to make a popular north Georgia trail safer will close parts of it for months. <br>
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Two bridges and a tunnel will replace several crossings on the Silver Comet Trail, which now runs more than 38 uninterrupted miles from the Smyrna area in Cobb County to Rockmart in Polk County. <br>
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The Silver Comet Trail is used by cyclists, skaters, walkers and runners. <br>
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Trail users will be detoured onto a gravel path until work on a bridge at the intersection of Old Villa Rica Highway and U.S. 278 is completed in mid-January, said Ed McBrayer, executive director of the PATH Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing a metrowide trail system for Atlanta. That project will cost $80,000. <br>
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Work on a $250,000 tunnel beneath Mount Olivet Road about 3.5 miles west is expected to begin in January and last until the end of March. <br>
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A second bridge costing $700,000 will be built across U.S. 278 in Cobb County. <br>
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Money for the projects comes from federal and state grants.
