Agreement OK'd to improve key Fayetteville intersection

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

The city of Fayetteville is closer to making improvements to the intersection of Ga. Highways 85 and 314 along with Jeff Davis Drive.

The City Council has approved a right of way agreement with the Georgia Department of Transportation for the project.

City officials are hoping to improve traffic flow at the intersection, particularly for northbound traffic on Jeff Davis.

Currently, traffic headed north on Hwy. 314 from Jeff Davis can bottleneck behind vehicles turning left onto Hwy. 85. That's because those vehicles share a lane, leaving the other northbound lane as a turn lane for vehicles wanting to go north on Ga. Highway 85.

The project will create a third lane to accommodate all directions of traffic heading off the north end of Jeff Davis Drive, according to city officials.

The cost estimate for the project is $200,000 and will also include other improvements to the intersection to help make traffic flow better.

This is the largest cost transportation improvement in Fayetteville's budget for the fiscal year. Last year, the city's big transportation initiative was to link a number of traffic signals on Ga. Highways 85 and 314 starting north from Ga. Highway 54 reaching all the way to the Fayette Pavilion.

Those signals are all linked on one computer system so they can be timed to improve traffic flows. The Georgia Department of Transportation is responsible for programming the signals and the project has produced a net result in shortening travel times according to a DOT study.

The Fayette County Commission and the DOT chipped in money along with Fayetteville for that project.