Slow Down on the Dirt Roads

Brooks County--On April 10, 2023 in Northern Brooks County Georgia closed state road 122 running from Barney to Pavo beginning at the Junction of State road 122 and State Road 333. The reason was to rebuild two of the bridges that were in between covering Okapilco Creek and another run off creek.

Since that time, several residents have called the Brooks County Sheriff Department complaining of motorist being sent via GPS through several of the northern dirt roads. Hiers Rd, Alderman Rd., and Hempstead Road and Copeland Rd. all connect to make a wide circle around the two bridges and folks are going by their GPS directions.

What motorist may not know or have no regard for is the families who live on these dirt roads. Many have small children, others are elderly, more tractors and machinery are on these roads for farming, and sometimes so are tractor trailers in order to move heavy equipment to another field. The roads are in bad condition as well, runoffs caused by severe rain are all over the roads and so are holes and washouts.

Brooks County Sheriff's Department and local District Commissioner Lee Larko urge motorist to find another way through and if they must take this route to be cautious. "Children, the elderly, and farmers are working, exercising and playing on these roads. Their pets roam these roads as well. Speed limits on these dirt roads are 35 miles per hour, but we caution motorist to drive 20 to 25 miles per hour when traveling the roads. This will enable motorists to brake before causing harm to a human or animal or themselves" said a local resident on Hiers Rd.

Although there are many short cuts to stay close to Highway 122 motorist have another option which is all pavement. Motorists coming from the east side of Brooks in the norther section can travel to Highway 333 on Highway 122 and turn south. They can then turn onto Coffee Road. When they get to the stop sign they have two ways to go from there. Left will take you around a curve and then take a right onto Coffee Road that merges into Barwick Road. Once on Barwick Road take your first paved right onto Beaty Road. Travel on that road until you reach Pavo.

The next route one can take is to the right which will take you back to Highway 122 where you can proceed to turn left and straight into Pavo. The routes are no longer than taking the route on the dirt roads to get around the bridges being repaired.

If your GPS is suggesting that the dirt roads are the fastest way, reprogram your GPS to take the highways not the dirt roads. Should you go the way of the dirt roads, be cautious, drive slowly and pay attention even at night!