How did South Cobb Drive begin? Bell Bomber and the speedy wartime construction of a highway

South Cobb Drive road sign (photo by Larry Johnson, Cobb County Courier, CC 4.0) Posted By: Larry Felton Johnson July 27, 2023 [ South Cobb Drive has been a major commercial and commuter highway in Cobb County since the mid-1940s. In fact, until the 1940s, South Cobb Drive, or SR 280 did not even exist. In December of 1941, after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered World War II.  The entire nation, including Atlanta and its surrounding area, was mobilized for the war effort.  In February of 1942, the plans for the construction of the Bell Bomber plant were announced after Marietta won out over East Point and Stone Mountain in competition for the plant’s location.  By March of 1943, the plant began building the B-29 bomber.  According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, the workforce at the plant grew to over 28,000 by 1945. A B-29, photo taken at an unknown date in the 1940s (public domain) The state determined that a new highway was necessary to transport workers and goods from Atlanta.  At that point, the current Atlanta Road (then called Marietta-Atlanta Road) was the main route from Atlanta to Marietta. It was determined that Marietta-Atlanta
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