Wednesday, November 5, 2003
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Wednesday, November 5, 2003 |
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Want roads? Pony up $400 million F’ville bypasses, east and west, at top of county list By JOHN THOMPSON Although Fayette County doesn’t have nearly the traffic congestion of its northside neighbors, the latest county transportation plan shows nearly $400 million in projects to keep the traffic snarls at a minimum over the next 20 years. The county’s political leaders gathered last week to try and prioritize projects to submit to the Atlanta Regional Commission for funding. Commission Chairman Greg Dunn complimented the work of the URS Corporation, who compiled the hefty document. “We have done the planning better than most counties in the region,” he said. Now that the plan has been completed, Dunn said the elected officials needed to act in unison and decide which were the most pressing projects for the county. Dunn, along with Fayetteville Mayor Ken Steele and the county’s public works director, Lee Hearn, attend ARC meetings, and are well aware of the best way to get the projects on the planning agency’s radar. As the elected officials mulled over the details of the plan, Dunn explained the costs for all the upgrades in 2003 dollars would be $266 million, but closer to $400 million by the time all the projects are completed. Include in the plan is 20 intersection or traffic signal improvements, 28 road upgrades, 10 bridge projects and seven street beautification projects. The county commission chairman asked the group to select at least a “top 3” list of priorities for ARC to plug into their 2030 plan, and was hopeful the group could decide on 10 projects. Dunn had previously met with the mayors and asked them to prioritize three projects. When the list from all the jurisdictions were unveiled last week, there was a striking similarity in the assessments. Tyrone, Brooks, Fayetteville, Woolsey and the county all selected the East Fayetteville Bypass as the top priority. Peachtree City officials, led by Mayor Steve Brown, believed the grade separation at the intersection of Georgia highways 54 and 74 should be the group’s emphasis, followed by the Peachtree Parkway-Crosstown Road intersection improvement and the widening of Hwy. 74 South from two to four lanes. “I know my constituents would love to see at least one of the priorities in their jurisdiction,” Brown said. Dunn agreed Peachtree City’s three choices were important, but pointed out the lion’s share of transportation improvements in the county during the last few years were in Peachtree City, including the impending improvements of TDK Boulevard and the widening of Hwy. 54 to the Coweta County line. But Brown said the bypass, which officials estimate could cost $80 million, could siphon off money from most of the other projects on the list. “It’s going to be a financial strain on all of us,” Brown added. Steele maintained the group needed to focus on the big dollar projects to send to ARC first, and then perhaps slide the grade separation, which is going to cost about $3.5 million, as a later priority. But Brown said the opening of TDK Boulevard was just going to create more traffic problems for the city, since developers in Coweta County were just waiting for the road to be finished, and said the group needed to realize how fast eastern Coweta County was growing. But in the end, the group dismissed Brown’s choices for the top three and set their priorities as the East Fayetteville Bypass, the West Fayetteville Bypass and the widening of Ga. Highway 54 east to the Clayton County border. (See accompanying top 10 list.) Dunn closed the meeting by saying the group would have to meet again, and discuss funding options, but no date was set for the event.
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