State Route 515 ( SR 515 ) is a 76.2-mile-long (122.6 km) four-lane C-shaped state highway in the northern part of the U.S. state of Georgia . It uses a blue state route designation because it is part of the Appalachian Development Highway System . It begins just west of Nelson . It curves to the northeast to Lake Chatuge , where it heads north to the North Carolina state line. The highway was built to give motorists in the north Georgia mountains better access to Atlanta and its outlying suburbs , as opposed to the old SR 5 and U.S. Route 76 (US 76) highways, which this project replaced.
14-599: Talking Rock is a town in Pickens County, Georgia , United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 91. Talking Rock had its start in the early 1880s when the railroad was extended to that point. The community takes its name from nearby Talking Rock Creek . The Georgia General Assembly incorporated Talking Rock as a town in 1883. Talking Rock is located at 34°30′34″N 84°30′19″W / 34.50944°N 84.50528°W / 34.50944; -84.50528 (34.509557, -84.505175). Georgia State Route 136
28-468: A point between Young Harris and Hiawassee . It maintains a fairly strict south-north routing from its southern terminus to Blue Ridge and then becomes a due east-west route for the remainder of its length. SR 515 is a significant route for the north Georgia mountains, funneling tourist traffic and serving as a growth corridor. SR 515 sees an Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) of more than 10,000 vehicles south of Blue Ridge, and at least 5,000 on
42-612: Is also known as the Zell Miller Mountain Parkway , in honor of Zell Miller , elected as Georgia governor and U.S. senator . It is one of the Georgia Department of Transportation 's Governor's Road Improvement Program (GRIP) corridors. The highway is known for mountain views all along its route. SR 515 is part of the Appalachian Development Highway System 's Corridor A , and is known as
56-604: Is home the Georgia Marble Festival . According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has a total area of 233 square miles (600 km ), of which 232 square miles (600 km ) are land and 0.7 square miles (1.8 km ) (0.3%) is covered by water. The county is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains . The highest point in Pickens County is the 3,288-ft summit of Mount Oglethorpe , the southernmost peak in
70-567: Is named for American Revolutionary War General Andrew Pickens . During the Civil War , Company D of the 1st Georgia Infantry Battalion of the Union Army was raised in Pickens County. Most of Pickens County's early industry revolved around marble. Georgia Marble Company is located in Marble Hill near Tate . The Tate elementary school is built out of marble. The marble was also used to make
84-463: Is the main route through the town, and leads east 30 mi (48 km) to Georgia State Route 9 north of Dawsonville , and west 31 mi (50 km) to Resaca along Interstate 75 . Georgia State Routes 5 and 515 (Zell Miller Mountain Parkway) pass to the west of the city as a four-lane highway, leading north 15 mi (24 km) to Ellijay and southeast 6 mi (10 km) to Jasper ,
98-505: The "APD Highway." The highway was designated in 1989. SR 515 begins just west of Nelson and just north of the Cherokee -Pickens County line, at the convergence of the northern terminus of Interstate 575 , SR 5, the northern terminus of SR 5 Business , and the northern terminus of SR 372 . It is concurrent with SR 5 from its southern terminus to Blue Ridge . It is also concurrent with US 76 from East Ellijay to
112-670: The Blue Ridge Mountains, and for a number of years, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Other notable peaks in Pickens County include Sharp Top Mountain and Sharp Mountain. One of the best viewpoints of Sharp Top Mountain is from Grandview Lake Dam on Grandview Road. The eastern half of Pickens County is located in the Etowah River subbasin of the ACT River Basin (Coosa-Tallapoosa River Basin). The western half of
126-594: The Pickens County seat. Atlanta is 66 mi (106 km) south via GA-5/515 to Interstate 575 and Interstate 75. According to the United States Census Bureau , the town has a total area of 1.49 square miles (3.9 km), all of it land. At the 2000 census , there were 49 people, 19 households and 14 families residing in the town. The population density was 255.5 inhabitants per square mile (98.6/km). There were 23 housing units at an average density of 119.9 per square mile (46.3/km). The racial makeup of
140-505: The county is located in the Coosawattee River sub-basin of the same larger ACT River Basin. A significant portion of the county population resides in gated master-planned communities that function similar to a municipality, with HOA fees to provide many municipal-type services independently from the county government. As of the 2020 United States census , there were 33,216 people, 11,868 households, and 8,539 families residing in
154-773: The county. Politically, Pickens County is an outlier in Georgia, one of the few ancestrally Republican counties of the state, due to Unionist sentiment in the county during the American Civil War. The weekly newspaper for Pickens County is the Pickens Progress , a family-owned newspaper published since 1887 in Jasper. [REDACTED] Media related to Pickens County, Georgia at Wikimedia Commons 34°28′N 84°28′W / 34.46°N 84.46°W / 34.46; -84.46 Georgia State Route 515 SR 515
SECTION 10
#1732887808287168-475: The entirety of the route. The entire length of SR 515, including the concurrent sections, is part of the National Highway System , a system of routes determined to be the most important for the nation's economy, mobility and defense. The road that would eventually become numbered as SR 515 was established at least by 1919 along nearly the same alignment as it travels today. At the time, it
182-565: The statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial . Most of the marble is white, but it is one of the few places in the world where pink marble is found. The marble is also used for tombstones for the United States military. Pickens County has seen very rapid growth with the building of Georgia State Route 515 , locally referred to as the "four-lane". Many new businesses and residents continue to move to Pickens County. Pickens County
196-1020: The town was 100.00% White . By the 2020 census , there were 91 people residing in the town. Chandler Smith (born 2002), professional racing driver Pickens County, Georgia Pickens County is a county in the Northwest region of the U.S. state of Georgia . As of the 2020 census , the population was 33,216. The county seat is Jasper . Pickens County is part of the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia metropolitan statistical area . The Georgia General Assembly passed an act on December 5, 1853, to create Pickens County from portions of Cherokee and Gilmer Counties. Pickens received several more land additions from Cherokee (1869) and Gilmer Counties (1858 and 1863); however, several sections of Pickens County have also been transferred to other counties: Dawson County (1857), Gordon County (1860), and Cherokee County (1870). Pickens County
#286713