Peach State Roads - Georgia State Route 9E

Old S.R. 9E originally served as roughly a lengthy by-pass of Dawsonville and a series of sharp curves between Cumming and Dahlonega prior to the completion of S.R. 400. Today, Old S.R. 9E is a highway of many names along its former 22 mile-long route through Lumpkin, Dawson and Forsyth Counties. It is today followed closely by S.R. 400 and crosses it twice.

Old S.R. 9E has two points of interest along its route. The first is the remains of the historic gold mining town of Auraria along the Aurarial Road portion. The second is a more modern marvel, the humongous Dawsonville outlet mall, located at the intersection of S.R. 9E and Dawson Forest Road, formerly S.R. 318.

S.R. 9E was one of the few directional suffix routes statewide. It basically was an alternate route of S.R. 9, which originally was only the state overlap of U.S. 19. It is today known as Hopewell Road between S.R. 9 and Dawson Forest Road, Lumpkin Campground Road between Dawson Forest Road and S.R. 53, Harmony Church Road from there to S.R. 136 and Auraria Road from S.R. 136 back to S.R. 9. It overlaps with one other highway, S.R. 136. Local route numbers today for S.R. 9E include Dawson C.R. 223 south of S.R. 136, Dawson C.R. 222 north of S.R. 136, Forsyth C.R. 545 and Lumpkin C.R. 226.

HISTORY

S.R. 9E was first constructed and established as an unpaved state highway in 1941, following exactly the same route as today. The highway always overlapped partly with S.R. 136, though the overlap was longer and further north than today spurring off at Ratliffs Ford to the west and Henry Grady Highway (Dawson C.R. 165) to the east. This overlap was replaced with the route of today in 1966 with the Ratliffs Ford crossing long since abandoned. The former overlap with modern-day S.R. 136 is today the only remaining portion of S.R. 9E remaining under state control.

(Click on map to view larger image)

S.R. 9E in 1978. Note proposed S.R. 400 north of S.R. 306 that will eventually replace S.R. 9E. Also note the overlap with S.R. 136 in addition to S.R. 226, which was decommissioned less than a year prior to S.R. 9E.

Paving of S.R. 9E commenced very slowly with the first section paved along present-day Hopewell Church Road between S.R. 53 and former S.R. 226 (Nix Bridge Road) in 1951. By 1955, S.R. 9E was paved south to the Forsyth County line and by 1957, it was completed all the way from S.R. 9 in Forsyth County north to present-day Henry Grady Highway (Old S.R. 136). The remainder along Auraria Road was not finished until 1960.

After 1960, no substantial changes occured along the length of the route for the next two decades. This changed in the early 1980's when S.R. 400 was planned along much of its route. For a short while, S.R. 9E and 400 co-existed while S.R. 400 was being completed. In 1980, S.R. 400 was completed to S.R. 53 southeast of Dawsonville. At that point, GDOT decided to go ahead and place U.S. 19 onto S.R. 400 although the new route had not been completed. How they accomplished this was that U.S. 19 was temporarily routed onto S.R. 9E starting November 15, 1980. This relocation along S.R. 9E was officially designated U.S. 19 Temporary. When S.R. 400 was completed north to S.R. 60, there was no longer a need for S.R. 9E as a reliever route from Cumming to Dahlonega. As a result, the entire route of S.R. 9E along with U.S. 19 Temporary was turned back to local control on July 1, 1981 on the same day that S.R. 400 opened.

OTHER MAPS OF S.R. 9E

PHOTO GALLERY

	This now-removed very old black on white guide sign was on northbound Old S.R. 9E at Dawson Forest Road (Old S.R. 318). In the background is another black on white sign showing distance to Auraria and Dahlonega. The intersection here is now a roundabout. Photo taken May 1998.
	This now-removed sign is at the same intersection looking southbound in the very early morning. The sign here was the very last of three standing. Photo taken August 14, 2004.

S.R. 9 MAIN PAGE, HISTORY AND PHOTOS