Friday, April 20, 2001
Friday, April 20, 2001 |
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DOT: Wal-Mart solution might be shorter 'auxililary' lane on Hwy. 54
By JOHN
MUNFORD The final piece to the puzzle paving the way for a Wal-Mart Superstore on Ga. Highway 54 West in Peachtree City is almost complete. But the proposed "through lane" may end up being a lot shorter than originally proposed, said state traffic engineer Marion Waters. The original idea was to build a third "through" lane to allow westbound traffic to continuously flow through the stoplight at Huddleston Road, just across the railroad bridge. The Wal-Mart, which is being developed by RAM Development along with an adjacent Home Depot store that has already been approved, appeared to be in limbo until the through lane concept came forward. That's because until then, the city's traffic engineers contended the Wal-Mart could not meet the city's traffic ordinance until the highway is widened to four lanes at least. But traffic engineers for RAM and the city had suggested the through lane as an extra lane all the way to Wynnmeade Parkway before it merged back to one lane. With that concept, Wal-Mart passed the city ordinance's muster. The trouble with the through lane plan lies in the air quality restrictions that have been placed on metro Atlanta, Waters said. Such "through lanes" are forbidden to keep Atlanta's air quality statistics in check, he said. The air quality guidelines don't just forbid spending state and federal dollars on through lanes, Waters said. They also forbid the state from allowing other parties, such as developers, from building through lanes. "It's a good plan they put together, and if this were five years ago we wouldn't have hesitated to approve it," Waters said. But a solution is near, Waters indicated Wednesday afternoon. "We think we can get around this by changing it to an auxiliary lane," Waters said. The auxiliary lane would add a second westbound lane extending from the railroad bridge to the new light for Home Depot/Wal-Mart, which will be located across from the entrance to the Planterra Ridge subdivision. That would make it much shorter than the originally-proposed through lane. State officials were putting the finishing touches on the plan Wednesday, Waters said. The DOT has previously approved permits for RAM Development to construct other traffic improvements in the area of Hwys. 54 and 74, one of the most logjammed spots in Peachtree City during rush hours. "Everything else was okay, except for that through lane," Waters said. The through lane was suggested as a way for RAM Development to meet Peachtree City's traffic ordinance, which forces developers to make traffic improvements so the current level of traffic doesn't worsen. The Planning Commission originally denied the Wal-Mart concept plan based on the fact that the development couldn't meet the requirements of the traffic ordinance. That was before the through lane concept was introduced to the public minutes before a city council meeting in November. During that same meeting, council approved the Wal-Mart concept plan by a 3-2 margin with Annie McMenamin and Dan Tennant voting against the approval.
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