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Grant sought for
new bridge at city’s northern boundary
By
J. FRANK LYNCH
jflynch@theCitizenNews.com
They aren’t exactly calling it “Gateway Project North,”
but city planners acknowledge the dramatic impact a proposed multi-use
pedestrian and bicycle bridge will have spanning the width of Ga. Highway
74 at the city’s northern boundary.
At the Oct. 2 council meeting, City Planner David Rast sought permission
to apply for a grant that would fund most of the construction cost for
the highway overpass, which he said had been considered for some time.
“It’s been leaped forward due to the construction of Crabapple
Lane Elementary School and the redistricting of neighborhoods above the
parkway to the school,” said Rast.
The bridge has an estimated pricetag of $800,000, Rast said, but the grant
if awarded would fund all but $178,000, which the city would contribute.
“Just because we sent the grant application in and get approved,
that doesn’t mean we have to build it,” Councilman Steve Rapson
suggested. “This is just a vote to proceed with the application.”
“Well, that seems like a no-brainer,” Councilman Dan Tennant
said, making a motion to OK perusing the grant.
The Department of Transportation deadline for applying for projects even
three or four years down the road was looming, Rast said, because studies
on air quality slow the process.
Actual construction of the bridge is still four or five years off, he
said. It would be modeled after the original bicycle bridge across Hwy.
54 in the heart of the city, connecting the World Airways headquarters
building with a new residential neighborhood going up behind the county
water tower, near where Peachtree Parkway and Crabapple Lane meet at Hwy.
74.
Resident Bill King asked why a tunnel wouldn’t be considered instead
of the bridge, which he assumed would be cheaper. Mayor Brown said that
most tunnels under Peachtree City’s streets are really just giant
storm culverts that were put in place when roads were first built, and
digging a tunnel beneath a major state highway might prove more difficult
than it’s worth.
Besides, said Rast, the lay of the land on either side of the highway
near the “Welcome Home” sign provides natural approaches.
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