Draft of West Village plan includes cart path expansion, access roads and rail station site

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

An advisory committee studying development of the West Village area is recommending a slate of cart path system expansions and design elements totalling more than $6.5 million.

Those projects are listed in a draft of a plan compiled by city staff after multiple meetings of the committee. The report also includes plans for access roads to the north and south of Ga. Highway 54 which will be constructed by developers.

Once the plan is approved by the committee and the City Council, the report will be filed with the Atlanta Regional Commission so the projects may be considered for grant funding.

The ARC is particularly interested in funding projects that encourage use of alternate transportation. One such form of transportation the plan focuses on is the city's existing cart path system and how it can be expanded to serve new commercial and residential developments in the West Village area.

The plan also briefly addresses a potential site for a commuter rail station should the state begin operating a planned commuter rail line from Senoia to Atlanta. The controversial topic was the subject of much debate initially, but the committee eventually decided the best place to locate such a station was in the Clover Reach area south of The Avenue at Peachtree City.

The committee decided it wanted the rail station in a location where it would have a local draw instead of a regional draw.

The rail station, however, is not tabulated in the final list of projects recommended by the committee with the exception of a cart path bridge which would be built near the location in 2006.

Instead, the main focus of the plan is on improvements to and the extension of the city's cart path system which collectively total more than $3.5 million.

Those improvements include $1.05 million for a path bridge over the railroad tracks adjacent to Hwy. 54 and tunnels under the railroad bridge to provide access to the eastern side of the area, including the Marketplace and The Avenue at Peachtree City retail centers. The tunnels would connect to the bridge in a unique cloverleaf design since the tunnels and bridge would be located at significantly different elevations.

Another path bridge is planned to cross Hwy. 54 near MacDuff Parkway; the bridge could be designed as part of a scenic entrance to Peachtree City. Two path tunnels are also included in the plan one for Hwy. 74 to link the Marketplace center to the Westpark Walk center and another at Paschal Road.

Another $2.9 million in the plan is dedicated for landscaping and aesthetic enhancements such as the burying of overhead power lines and planting along the median and right of way of Hwy. 54.

The project also calls for 10-foot wide sidewalks along Hwy. 54 on the north and south for pedestrians.

Although they will be funded by developers, the plans also refer to the creation of access roads which will be developed north and south of Hwy. 54 so local traffic can avoid using the highway to get around Peachtree City.

The northern access road will extend from MacDuff Parkway to the planned Home Depot/Wal-Mart access road, eventually linking up with Huddleston Road across the current site of Line Creek Baptist Church.

The southern access road would extend from an undeveloped commercial parcel west of the Days Inn to a proposed roundabout intersection at Planterra Way. The plan also calls for the relocation of the entrance to the Planterra Ridge subdivision.

Big-ticket projects on the West Village "wish list"

$1.05 million for a cart path bridge and tunnels for the railroad bridge on Hwy. 54 to connect the West Village to developments at the intersection of Hwys. 54 and 74 (estimated for funding in 2003).

$875,000 for a cart path bridge over the railroad tracks at the possible location for a commuter rail station in the Clover Reach area (2006).

$600,000 for a cart path bridge across Hwy. 54 near MacDuff Parkway (2003).

$400,000 for a cart path tunnel under Hwy. 74 at Paschal Road (2006).

$350,000 for a cart path tunnel under Hwy. 74 to connect the Marketplace retail center with Westpark Walk (2006).

$200,000 to construct a roundabout at Planterra Way where it would connect with an access road (2005).

$1.2 million to bury overhead power lines along Hwy. 54 (2003 and 2004).

$600,000 for plants and landscaping in the median and right of way along Hwy. 54 after it is widened to four lanes (2004).

Back to News Home Page | Back to the top of the page