Wednesday, May 23, 2001
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Wednesday, May 23, 2001 |
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PTC OKs Hwy. 54 E. turn lane By JOHN MUNFORD
A right turn lane at Huddleston Road to divert industrial park traffic during rush hour is the best remedy for easing the logjam at the intersection of Ga. highways 54 and 74 in Peachtree City, a planner told the City Council last week. The 300-foot turn lane, estimated to cost $85,000, could relieve traffic in the area by over 20 percent, Jim Williams, director of developmental services, told council members Thursday night. The turn lane is to be financed in part by John Wieland Homes, as part of its agreement with the city for recent residential rezoning in the West Village area. A Wieland representative at the meeting said the company would seek immediate state approval for the project. "We were trying to figure out how our dollars could be best spent," Williams said. He presented a list of seven road projects costing $1.04 million. After council discussion, the list was whittled down to two immediate projects for about a quarter of the originally proposed cost. The second project to encourage industrial park traffic to take the Huddleston route would be the redesigning of the Huddleston/Dividend Drive/Paschall Road intersection, Williams said. Currently, Huddleston doesn't connect directly with Dividend, instead requiring a brief right onto Paschall followed by a brief left. That project, with an estimated cost of $175,000, should take second priority behind the Huddleston turn lane off Hwy. 54, Williams said. Now, the trick is for city officials to find money to fund these projects. Time is of the essence since roads can't be constructed during the winter months due to low temperatures and other factors. Council has about $600,000 in its contingency fund. Most of the projects Williams discussed were actually part of the traffic mitigation plan for the Wal-Mart and Home Depot retail center, and as such the projects were to be paid for by the developer, RAM Development. However, RAM has had Georgia Department of Transportation permits for all but one of those traffic improvement projects for some time, yet no work has been done, Williams noted. RAM indicated it would refund the city for the traffic improvements on its list that are done and paid for by the city, noted City Attorney Rick Lindsey. That matter will be written into the development agreement, Lindsey said. RAM told The Citizen last week that the traffic improvements will be completed within the first three months of breaking ground on the retail project. One catch is that the project's traffic estimates have expired, so the figures must be updated using the city's latest traffic model for the area, which would include all other projects that have opened since the original estimate was conducted. The delay has been on behalf of the Georgia Department of Transportation, which has taken some time to consider the latest proposed traffic improvement: a through lane for westbound traffic on Hwy. 54 beginning at Huddleston Road. "We can't make any assumptions based on that development agreement being signed," Williams said, warning council not to spend funds on all the improvement projects expecting reimbursement from RAM. Mayor Bob Lenox said there is still a possibility the Home Depot-Wal-Mart retail center won't be approved by the city. Another of the projects Williams suggested to relieve traffic at the Hwy. 5474 intersection is extending the left-turn lane for southbound traffic by 250 feet. At an estimated cost of $40,000, that would help keep motorists turning left from cutting off vehicles attempting to use the one southbound lane, Williams said. Another idea is to add a second southbound lane so two lanes of motorists could proceed through the 54-74 signal at the same time, Williams indicated. That would cost an estimated $150,000.
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