SUWANEE, GA – Despite warnings of dangerous floodwater – and two fatalities last summer – Settles Bridge was busy with jumpers Friday.
The steel bridge, abandoned in the 1950s to traffic, is the signature feature of a Gwinnett County park and a federal recreation area. During a visit Friday morning, a man took his 15 year old son, and his 15 year old friend, onto the structure. All three jumped the three-story distance from the bridge to the Chattahoochee below.
Federal authorities had declared the Chattahoochee downstream from Buford Dam unsafe for swimming. The dam has been releasing water constantly to accommodate floodwaters flowing into Lake Lanier from north Georgia. Authorities warned that the Chattahoochee’s current was unsafe, and that it could contain dangerous bacteria.
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The warnings didn’t stop Tim Rice of Roswell from leading the two teens onto the bridge and jumping off. Neither did a nearby sign warning that climbing and jumping from the bridge was dangerous and could result in a $5,000 fine.
“I did not pay enough attention I guess,” said Rice, a former US Marine who described himself as a thrill-seeker who pays close attention to safety.
In 2017, two people died in separate jumping incidents from Settles Bridge.
Nearby, a couple tiptoed into the water below the bridge. Tiernan Hegarty said he’d jumped from the bridge in previous years, but the fatalities have snuffed his desire to jump again. His companion Kirsten Swemley said there was “not a chance” she’d jump. “Afraid of heights. And this current,” she said.
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