Drivers beware: consider changing that normal route to work on Monday morning and then home again in the evening as the week begins, and see how things go for the rest of the time as lane shifts begin on Highway 101 coming into Rockmart.

The Georgia Department of Transportation’s planned bridge replacement is set to start Monday morning just past the turn onto Marquette and will impact traffic coming into the city from and the major intersection with Nathan Dean Parkway.

Construction work on the bridge replacement over a tributary of Euharlee Creek between Brock Road and the Koch Food processing plant comes just weeks after contractors were out on the DOT project repaving sections of Piedmont Avenue and East Elm Street.

This bridge replacement per budget documents from the Department of Transportation has just over $4 million price tag allocated for the project.

Using Marquette Road to go around by turning onto Brock Road isn’t an ideal solution due to the difficulty turning left onto Highway 101 next to a railroad crossing an already busy intersection.

Those who use Highway 101 to commute to work should instead use New Prospect Road in Aragon as a potential bypass, taking it to Prospect Road and coming out next to TipTop Poultry and Eastside Elementary. Another option is to use White River Road in Aragon to connect to Highway 113, and enter Rockmart past coming in at the intersection with Goodyear Avenue and Nathan Dean Parkway.

Whatever solution works best for the Monday morning commute, consider it and do so with arriving to work safely as the main focus of the start of the day.