The origin of S.R. 115 lies with a much more significant state highway: S.R. 17. S.R. 115 was essentially carved out of S.R. 17 in the mid-1930's when the northern end was relocated out of Toccoa on what is today S.R. 17 Alternate up to the Hollywood community. The creation of S.R. 115, however, did include a new section extending from Cleveland west to S.R. 43, today S.R. 52. When the transition was completed, it created an important route connecting the county seats of Dahlonega, Cleveland, Clarkesville and Toccoa, though both Dahlonega and Toccoa were actually served by S.R. 43 and S.R. 13 (later U.S. 123), respectively.

This 1933 Georgia Highway Department map shows S.R. 17 extending west to Cleveland following what later became S.R. 115 between Toccoa and Cleveland.

The original route of S.R. 115 consisted of all of the current route between where S.R. 52 meets the route today and Clarkesville, but it also included a section to the east that included an overlap with U.S. 23/S.R. 15 (today U.S. 441 Business/S.R. 385) and present-day S.R. 17 to S.R. 365. East of S.R. 365, the original route of S.R. 115 is today Tommy Irvin Drive, a Habersham County road ending at Dicks Hill Parkway, which was the former route of Old S.R. 13/Old U.S. 123. Essentially, this original route went further east than today, but not as far west.

S.R. 115 was also mostly unpaved at this point. The only paved portion was the portion that extended from Clarkesville to S.R. 13. While the portion between Cleveland and Clarkesville received new bridges and improvements in 1938, paving was not completed until the late 1940's. West of Cleveland, paving was partially completed to Shoal Creek Road (S.R. 284) in the late 1940's as well, but it took until 1953 for it to finally reach S.R. 52, which by then had taken the place of S.R. 43.

The 1940's also saw the takeover of a new section of highway extending from S.R. 136 southeast of Murrayville in Hall County north to S.R. 52. Including part of present-day S.R. 60 and present-day Old Dahlonega Highway. Originally, this part of the route was only in Hall County. It did not connect to the other portion, and it ended at the Lumpkin County line. It was extended shortly after to meet S.R. 52, eliminating the gap and creating an overlap with S.R. 52. It should be noted that when the highway was created, there was no state highway directly connecting Gainesville and Dahlonega. This changed first before 1950 when pavement was extended to Murrayville to tie into the new S.R. 249, which is today part of S.R. 60. Later, in 1954, the last unpaved section of S.R. 115 along Old Dahlonega Highway was paved in Lumpkin County, with the Hall side was completed by the next year. S.R. 249 was pretty significant in that it had basically canceled out the need for that part of S.R. 115 about as fast is it had become a highway. This was because S.R. 249 completed the link between Gainesville and Dahlonega, thus the modern name "Old Dahlonega Highway".

(Click on the map to the left to view a larger image) In the early 1950's, it took three different routes to connect Gainesville to Dahlonega, but this was because the first direct alignment had been completed. S.R. 249 and 115 south of where they intersect is now S.R. 60 and S.R. 115 north of S.R. 249 is today Old Dahlonega Hwy. S.R. 136 was also replaced with S.R. 60 east of where they intersect on the map here (1952 GHD Map).

(Click on the map to the right to view larger image) In 1996, S.R. 115 remains in place along Old Dahlonega Highway. Note the presence of S.R. 400, the renumbering of S.R. 249 to S.R. 60 and the gray line extending northeast of S.R. 400, which represents Longbranch Road. S.R. 115 would be moved to Longbranch Road in 2000 as discussed later.

It would be over 20 years before any more changes would occur along S.R. 115. The first of these were bridge and operational improvements that occured in the late 1980's. Passing lanes were installed west of Cleveland, a new center-turn lane was built in Clarkesville and a couple bridges were widened or replaced. West of Cleveland, the Shoal Creek bridge was replaced by a culvert in 1987. In Clarkesville, the two-lane 1941 Soque River bridge in Clarkesville was widened in 1988 and the Sutton Mill Creek bridge replaced with a culvert.

1991 was the first time any major change to the route of S.R. 115 itself occured. This was when the highway was truncated to end at what is today U.S. 441 Business in Clarkesville. The former route east of there was renumbered back to its original S.R. 17 up to where S.R. 17 jumped onto its new alignment with U.S. 123 and S.R. 365. This change came as a result of the completion of S.R. 365, which rerouted U.S. 23, 441 and 123 around a new by-pass that avoided Clarkesville, Cornelia and Demorest in addition to providing a better route to Toccoa. The truncation of S.R. 115 came along with numerous changes that year to the highways in Habersham and Stephens Counties.

(Click on map to view larger image) This 1988 GDOT map shows S.R. 115 extending east of Clarkesville to S.R. 13, which was also U.S. 123 at the time of this map. S.R. 115 east of Clarkesville was originally S.R. 17 until the mid-1930's when it was relocated to S.R. 17 shown here, today S.R. 17 Alt. In 1991, S.R. 17 would be moved back to its original route into Clarkesville with exception to the portion south of the extended S.R. 365, shown here in the southwest corner of the map.

(Click on map to view larger image) This 1993 map shows the enormous changes that surrounded the truncation of S.R. 115. The black line connecting former S.R. 115 to S.R. 17 Alt is a temporary state route that was planned to be a new location for S.R. 17 Alt, but no action has been taken on that. Also note former S.R. 13/U.S. 123, the extension of S.R. 365 and S.R. 385, which is today's terminus of S.R. 115.

Beyond 1991, nothing further would happen to S.R. 115 until the beginning of the 21st century. It was then that the quirk of Old Dahlonega Highway was addressed. Old Dahlonega Highway created a bit of a curiosity, because tourist traffic ignored this out-of-the-way twisting route when S.R. 400 was completed once they discovered Longbranch Road. For years at the end of S.R. 400, travelers were greeted with a fading green sign stating "LONGBRANCH ROAD" with another faded green sign underneath reading "COUNTY MAINTAINED" on their way to the mountains. Other than that, getting to Cleveland and Helen was guesswork up to S.R. 52. In fact, an area tourist map created in the early 1990's with a rustic theme labeled the road humorously as "Seems like it outta be 115 but it ain't".

Apparently GDOT agreed it "outta be 115". In 2000, the entirety of Old Dahlonega Highway between S.R. 60 and S.R. 52 was shifted back to local control and shorter Longbranch Road became the new route of S.R. 115. This shift created a slightly longer overlap along S.R. 52, but it was badly needed. The two-lane county extension of S.R. 400 is now a major highway with heavy traffic. Not only that, but the highway that formerly lacked much signage as a Lumpkin County road now has adequate signage and markings for safer travel than the previous county road.

(Click on the map to the left to view a larger image) This 2005 map shows the completed rerouting of S.R. 115 to Longbranch Road, though its five mile length is not shown. Note the mileage shown next to Old S.R. 115 along Old Dahlonega Highway. While this completed the creation of a better route, this map shows a need to relocate S.R. 115 to Longbranch Extension and Sandy Flats Road as White County was suggesting.

While definitely not the last thing planned for S.R. 115, the most recent changes will most likely be the last to occur for awhile. The last of such changes started in 1999 with a replacement of the bridge over Yellow Bank Creek, an extension of the three-lane roadway in Clarkesville out to where S.R. 17 splits from S.R. 115 in 2003 and a replacement of the 1938 bridge and approaches over the Chattahoochee River in 2004.

S.R. 115 MAIN PAGE AND PHOTO GALLERY