Wednesday, May 16, 2001
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Wednesday, May 16, 2001 |
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Is 54-74 traffic relief in sight? PTC Council eyes $1.04 million in road improvements By JOHN MUNFORD
Peachtree City Council Thursday will look for ways to help traffic flow through the big jam at the intersection of Ga. highways 54 and 74. A host of possible road improvements for that area, with a price tag of more than $1 million, will be considered during council's regular meeting Thursday night, according to city documents. Some of the projects focus on diverting eastbound traffic on Hwy. 54 into the industrial park through Huddleston Drive. But most of the projects are designed to allow more traffic to flow more quickly through the 5474 traffic signal. The most expensive project $440,000 is creation of a through lane that would allow westbound traffic to pass continuously through the intersection of Huddleston and Hwy. 54. Currently, westbound traffic has to stop there occasionally to allow traffic to flow out of Huddleston Drive. If that project sounds familiar, it should. And so will most of the others proposed by Jim Williams, the city's director of developmental services. That's because they were part of the traffic mitigation plan for the city's new Wal-Mart and Home Depot stores. RAM Development, the company in charge of that retail project, was slated to fund certain improvements, including the through lane. But the studies performed for those projects have expired, meaning the traffic estimates for each store will have to be recalculated. That creates the possibility that the Wal-Mart and Home Depot site may no longer meet the requirements of the city's traffic impact ordinance, Williams said in a memo to council. If that's the case, and if the entire slate of proposed projects for the area is approved by council, the city taxpayers would have to foot the $1 million bill. In the memo to council, Williams said the city could undertake those projects "in the absence of any road improvement activity by the developers of Home Depot and Wal-Mart." "It is felt that if some work is not initiated soon, the prime construction season will pass by and opportunities for some immediate improvements will be lost for this year," Williams wrote. One project for the 5474 intersection would add a right turn lane for traffic turning west off Hwy. 74 onto Hwy. 54. That would allow two lanes of vehicles continuing south on Hwy. 74 to proceed through the traffic signal at the same time. Another project calls for extending the second lane south of the stoplight so traffic would have more time to merge into the single southbound lane on 74 south. The city also wants to extend the length of the Hwy. 74 southbound left turn lane by 250 feet to give more space to traffic heading east on Hwy. 54. To keep industrial park traffic from hitting the 5474 intersection, the city wants to create a turn lane so traffic can flow smoothly onto Huddleston Drive. Williams said he considers this the most important road improvement project to alleviate morning traffic congestion in the area. Also, the city could redesign the intersection of Huddleston Road, Dividend Drive and Paschall Road to smooth traffic flow to the industrial park, Williams said.
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