One of the longest highways in Georgia to be fully decommissioned, Old GA 179 extends 29 miles through Grady County in Southwest Georgia. Today, the road is simply known as Old S.R. 179.

In following the route, GA 179 started out as an east-west route extending out of Calvary near the Florida border. A short ways west, GA 179 turned right, heading north, while GA 179 Connector continued straight. More on GA 179 Connector will be discussed below.

GA 179 was originally commissioned in the 1940's as projected mileage on an existing county road, or as the map from that time states, "on system-not marked or maintained". Progress came fast, too. By 1952, the route was indeed on the system and paved fully from U.S. 82 in Whigham to the Harrells Still community in 1952. Also that year, the road was graded for about three miles south of of U.S. 82 in Whigham.

This 1946 GHD Map shows GA 179 as projected mileage. Note on the northern end the northwest tilt and the turn on what is now GA 262.

An interesting fact was that in the early days of the route GA 179 took a different alignment on the northern end of the route. Not only did the route originally consist of the westernmost three miles of GA 262 prior to the commissioning of that highway, but the route also followed what is today Big Slough Road (Grady C.R. 24). Compare the two maps below:

Compare these two clips. The first is a clip from the 1952 GHD map and the second is a GHD map from 1954. This change added a mile to the length of GA 159 and moved the northern terminus of the route two miles east on GA 262.

By 1954, the Big Slough portion was replaced with the final route. Since that time, no further realignments were made on the route. Also, except for the route north of Harrells Still, including the relocated portion, all of GA 179 was fully paved. A year or two later, paving was completed entirely.

After a period of time, GA 179 was later joined by its only banner route, GA 179 Connector. Added in 1969, the highway known today as McRaeville Road joined GA 179 at the southern end in Calvary and formed an east-west route, ending at GA 262 just shy of U.S. 27.

GA 179 and 179 Connector in their final year. Old GA 179 Connector no longer connects directly to U.S. 27 (1986 GDOT Map).

Beyond 1969, GA 179 was not a highway meant to last as a state route. By the time the route was long established, nearby GA 262 paralleled the route, decreasing the importance of GA 179 as a highway. As the road had mostly been a farming road anyway, both GA 179 and GA 179 Connector joined several other Georgia highways across the state that were decommissioned in 1986. Old GA 179 is now Grady C.R. 223 and the former GA 179 Connector is now Grady C.R. 371 and Decatur C.R. 492.

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