The Broomtown Valley southwest of LaFayette rests at the foot of Lookout Mountain and Pigeon Mountain, both parts of the Cumberland Plateau. On the other side is Peavine Ridge and inbetween is GA 337, which overall appears to be unnamed. Extending 20.9 miles, GA 337 takes traffic from LaFayette, the county seat of Walker County, down into Chattooga County, the town of Menlo and into Alabama. Upon entering Alabama, the road becomes Cherokee C.R. 99 that requires an additional turn onto C.R. 41 to reach AL 35 further down.

GA 337 is a highway that is overall sparse of traffic along its length. While the Chattooga County side is fully to state standards, the Walker County side is actually very narrow and winding. The north end of the route turns east to cross part of Shinbone Ridge through the Shattack Industrial Park, where the highway is literally routed around a large plant facility. The purpose of that portion of the highway is to provide a direct link to U.S. 27, which had not always existed.

Very scenic along its entire length, GA 337 passes near to several points of interest in the Cumberland Plateau region including Crockford-Pigeon Mountain WMA, which includes a popular rock climbing area. Other area attractions include spelunking in the many caves along Pigeon Mountain, Desoto State Park and Desoto Falls in Alabama, all the nearby attractions in Chattanooga and several scenic roadtrip opportunities also in the area.

One thing of note is that a relocation is justified for GA 337 onto Jamestown Road, which is the Georgia side of Cherokee C.R. 15, a county highway with much higher traffic volumes than the present road that GA 337 becomes. Unlike C.R. 99, C.R. 15 continues as AL 273 past the AL 35 intersection, which if fully state-maintained on both sides of the line, would create a faster and more direct route between Chattanooga and LaFayette with Leesburg, AL and Gadsden. With both routes served by nearby GA 114 and AL 68, though, which are not congested at all, however, such a change on the Alabama side is not terribly likely.

When originally commissioned in 1961, GA 337 brought substantial additional mileage into an area underrepresented for state routes as a whole. Originally extending from GA 193 in LaFayette instead of where it ends today at U.S. 27, the route was originally a narrow winding road along its entire length.

GA 337 first began to see major improvement in the 70's when a portion of the highway north of Menlo was relocated west. That portion today is still known as Old Hwy. 337 with some of the original traffic signs still in place. Work on that project was completed on August 17, 1976 ,replacing a section of highway with a couple sharp turns and an old iron-railed concrete bridge. Overall, the relocation of GA 337 in Menlo was the first of three major events that occured over the course of its over 40-year existance.

Here is a detailed map showing current GA 337 and Old GA 337 along the portion decommissioned in 1976. Note that part of the old highway is in Menlo. The portion within Menlo is part of Edison St. The north end of Old GA 337 was realigned with Hair Lake Road in 1987.

The second major work along GA 337 was completed in 1987 when GA 337 was completely rebuilt in Chattooga County between the Menlo City Limits and the Walker County Line. Part of this project involved the portion of the highway that had been relocated ten years prior. Included in this project was a relocation of the intersection of Old GA 337 and GA 337, which redirected the former route with Hair Lake Road. Work on that section completed reconstruction of all of GA 337 in Chattooga County aside from the portion from Menlo southward.

The most sweeping change to GA 337 occured in 1989, shortly after the Chattooga County reconstruction work. That year, as U.S. 27 was moved out of downtown LaFayette onto a new by-pass, GA 337 was relocated as well via a new route tied into an existing industrial park road that joined GA 337 on the western end. The new 1.4 mile long road, known as Shattack Industrial Drive, not only joined U.S. 27 to GA 337, but it also resulted in all of GA 337 north of the new road being decommissioned. One of the interesting features of this route is how part of the highway is literally routed around a large industrial facility. Before, it had been a straight 20 miles from GA 193 in LaFayette to GA 48 in Menlo. Even now, most GA 337 traffic still uses the old route.

The two maps here show GA 337 before and after the U.S. 27 Bypass (GA 730 on the map to the left) opened. Though not labeled, GA 337 is the road with the number 8 on it.

Of the two old alignments, both old alignments are still known only as Old Hwy. 337. Further work around 2000 resulted in a bridge replacement over Duck Creek. This leaves only the section between the Chattooga County line and the Industrial Road to be rebuilt, though this interesting section hopefully never will be.