ByWTOC Staff|May 17, 2021 at 4:38 PM EDT - Updated May 20 at 5:49 AM
GARDEN CITY, Ga. (WTOC) - UPDATE - Highway 21 is back open Thursday morning after emergency road work shut the major roadway down for two days.
The section of road between Chatham Villa Drive and Brampton Road reopened more than 24 hours ahead of schedule. However, residents in the surrounding neighborhoods saidthe detoured traffic caused a lot of back-ups near their homes.
A section of Highway 21 in Garden City will be closed for most of the week.
Both the northbound and southbound lanes of Hwy 21 will be blocked between Chatham Villa Drive and Brampton Road as crews work on the railroad tracks. Southern Commercial Development, a contractor for CSX Railroad, notified the city of Garden City that emergency repair is needed on the tracks.
The closure will be in place from Tuesday, May 18 at 8 a.m. until Friday, May 21 at 5 p.m.
The city says it contacted CSX and Southern Commercial Development to request a schedule change to allow more time for community notice or to shorten the length of time the road will be closed.
Businesses say they won’t know for sure how it will affect them until Tuesday, but they do believe it will cause issues, not just with traffic along this highway but with foot traffic at their doors as well.
Some businesses say these repairs for the tracks are needed but they also say it’s just not the right time.
Auto Shine Car Wash is right next to the tracks. They say the closure could cause them to shut down for the rest of the week.
“The car wash is going to be slowed down. Hopefully, it doesn’t stop us, but it might. It’s just going to bring us to a halt for about a week,” said Wayne Durden, Assistant Manager of Auto Shine Car Wash.
“We’re going to attempt tomorrow and see how business does. We will probably end up shutting down. If your car doesn’t shine like it ought to shine, bring it down to Auto Shine next week when we open back up,” said Ashley Gunning, Manager at Auto Shine Car Wash.
Garden City Police tell us they will be out making sure no one drives over the train tracks while the area is closed.
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