As you have probably heard, Speaker David Ralston recently announced that funding has been obtained to widen Hwy 5 , turning it into a five-lane highway.
The first phase will be the widening itself, which presumably will stop short of the downtown business district of both McCaysville and the sister city, Copperhill.
The second phase is said to include a bypass of McCaysville to the west. The route has not been announced yet, but in the past, it was said that the idea was to link up with Hwy 64, the road that goes from Murphy to Ducktown and from Ducktown through the Ocoee Gorge to Cleveland, Tennessee. It could also conceivably tie into Hwy 68 near the mouth of the Fightingtown Creek, where Hwy 68 turns briefly to four lanes. In any case, it would cross Fightingtown Creek at least once, and is likely to compromise some nice cabin locations on and near the creek. There’s apparently no national forest involved.
A group has now been formed to try to stop the bypass phase of the project. You can view their Facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/STOPMCCAYSVILLEBYPASS/
The widening has been promised for many years, and whether it’s really needed or not, I would guess that there’s no chance of stopping it. I imagine that this group recognizes that fact, as they say explicitly that they’re just trying to stop the bypass. It’s possible that they can, but I don’t think it will be easy in the local political environment.