Eggs & Issues 2024 | Blue Ridge, GA

W. Grant Waldrop, P.E.

Grant Waldrop is the District Engineer for Northwest Georgia and leads a team that designs, constructs, maintains, and operates the State Route System for 17 counties. Grant leads an office of 340 people that are responsible for 1888 centerline miles of state routes and 155 centerline miles of interstates.
Grant began his career with the department in 2003 as an engineering intern. During his career he has held multiple positions in Traffic Operations and has be responsible for the delivering the ITS and Traffic Signal portions of the Governor’s Fast Forward Program and creation of the Regional Traffic Operations Program. He accepted a position in District 6 in 2014 and has worked in Northwest Georgia ever since. Grant holds a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is a registered Professional Engineer.

Ethan Mobley

Ethan Mobley serves Northwest Georgia as a Project Manager for the Georgia Department of Transportation. Ethan is a graduate in Biosystems Engineering from Auburn University, and has been managing northwest GA transportation improvement projects since the Fall of 2022.
Ethan currently manages multiple corridor widening projects in Northwest Georgia, such as the widenings of State Route 53 Business in Jasper, State Route 20 between Cartersville and Canton, and State Route 5 here in Fannin County.

Steve Gooch - Senate Majority Leader

Steve Gooch - Senate Majority Leader was elected to the Georgia State Senate in 2010. Senator Gooch is a Republican representing the 51st District, which includes Fannin, Union, Gilmer, Lumpkin, White, Dawson and parts of Pickens and Forsyth counties. Senator Gooch was elected as the Majority Whip of the Senate Majority Caucus in 2014. Prior to serving as the Senate Majority Whip, Senator Gooch served as the Secretary of the Senate Majority Caucus and as chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. Senator Gooch serves as Vice-Chairman of the Transportation Committee and Secretary of the Appropriations Committee. Additionally, he serves on the Finance and Regulated Industries and Utilities Committees and as Ex-Officio on the Assignments and Rules Committees.

Johnny Chastain

Johnny Chastain currently represents the 7th district in the Georgia House of Representatives. Johnny graduated from Fannin High in 1983 and briefly attended Truett McConnell. Later, he completed his education at UGA Banking School and the University of Colorado Graduate Banking School. Johnny's career in banking started at Fannin County Bank from 1986 to 1994. He's been with UCBI as a Regional President since 1994. In January 2023, he was honored to be elected to the State House of Representatives.