Wednesday, November 28, 2001
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Wednesday, November 28, 2001 |
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PTC bridge funding is newest bottleneck By JOHN MUNFORD
Drivers, you could wait up to eight years or as few as two years for bridge widening at Peachtree City's busiest highway intersection. While widening the western leg of Ga. Highway 54 in Peachtree City to four lanes has been given the green light by regional and state transportation officials, one key piece to the puzzle is missing: money to widen the railroad bridge between Huddleston Drive and Hwy. 74. The bridge, just west of The Avenue shopping center entrance, is viewed by many citizens as the current choke point during peak traffic periods, particularly for westbound traffic which must merge from two lanes into one before proceeding over the bridge. But Peachtree City Mayor Bob Lenox said he is optimistic that the state Department of Transportation will find the funds necessary to complete the railroad bridge at the same time the rest of the project is built. Lenox said he has been told the cost for the railroad bridge widening is not higher than normal. "The DOT has a national reputation for doing the job well economically and maintaining their roads," Lenox said. "... I am extremely confident that we will have the railroad bridge back in there and everything will proceed on schedule." The Georgia Regional Transportation Agency and the Atlanta Regional Commission have officially approved the widening of Hwy. 54 and a host of other projects as part of the 2002-2004 Transportation Improvement Plan. The TIP does include funding for a partial solution to the traffic crunch at hwys. 54 and 74. With a completion date of 2003, $150,000 has been earmarked for intersection improvements to Huddleston and Dividend Drive. The city wants to realign the intersection so the roads meet at the same junction, which will allow traffic from Coweta County to take a beeline to the industrial park and avoid the clogged intersection of Hwys. 54 and 74 less than a half-mile away. John Wieland Homes, the developer of the Centennial subdivision off MacDuff Parkway, has pledged to extend the turn lane that routes traffic off Hwy. 54 onto Huddleston. According to the TIP, officials expect the $8.28 million widening of Hwy. 54 to be complete by 2005, along with the widening of the bridge over Line Creek that connects Fayette and Coweta counties. That bridge, with an estimated cost of $851,000, is also due to be finished by 2005. Although the project to widen the railroad bridge is unfunded and technically listed with a completion date of 2010, it could possibly be put on the region's 2003-2005 Transportation Improvement Plan, said William Mecke, director of communications for the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. Construction of a through lane on Hwy. 54 for westbound traffic has already started, compliments of the developers who are building the Wal-Mart and Home Depot shopping center in the area. City officials signed off on the improvements after indications they would help both projects meet the city's traffic impact ordinance.
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