Friday, November 7, 2003
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Friday, November 7, 2003 |
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TDK Boulevard moves forward By J. FRANK LYNCH and By JOHN THOMPSON Dirt may soon be moving on the Coweta County side of the Coweta-Fayette Connector. County officials announced this week the receipt of a contract from the Georgia Department of Transportation for $290,000 in materials for the road. “Since we received this contract, we’ll be able to use some of our existing funds, for other items, such as the bridge on the road,” said County Administrator Theron Gay. The Coweta-Fayette Connector (or TDK Boulevard, depending on which side of Line Creek that you call home) has been a poiltical football for months. Earlier this year, the Fayette County Commission and the Coweta County Commission signed off on a deal that provides local funding for the road and allows it to be built quicker. Since the deal was signed, officials have been eager to get the project moving, and the DOT contract is a sign the road may soon be under construction. “We are getting the final plans and right-of-way documents completed. We don’t anticipate anymore delays,” Gay said. County Commissioner Vernon “Mutt” Hunter was extremely pleased with the receipt of the contract. “I want to see this get moving quickly,” he said. Meanwhile, Fayette County officials have a date with the DOT next week, when they’ll plead their own case for state funds to get the road going on the Peachtree City side of Line Creek. Fayette Commission Chairman Greg Dunn said recently that the county went straight to Pathway Communities, the chief landowner at the site, and negotiated for the developer to donate the four acres needed to complete the right of way, bypassing Peachtree City and Mayor Steve Brown. An earlier attempt to arrange a swap of the four acres with some undeveloped park land owned by the city went nowhere, with Brown refusing to let the city give up “precious green space.” Brown has opposed the TDK extension, saying the increased traffic will make worse the crowded situation on two-lane Ga. Highway 74 South. According to Lee Hearn, head of the county road department, crews are ready to move in and start construction on the Fayette County side when word comes that the pieces have fallen into place. “We’re actually closer than we’ve ever been,” said Hearn on Monday, adding that Peachtree City still has to wrap up survey work at the site just north of Falcon Field Airport,“Before the land is in our hands and in our possession, they are required to finish that survey,” said Hearn. Troy Besseche, head of engineering for Peachtree City, confirmed that the final paperwork on the right of way acquisition was in the hands of City Attorney Ted Meeker. Meeker said Tuesday he was in the process of getting the propterty owners to approve the contract. Besseche said he’ll proceed with the survey as soon as he gets the all-clear from Meeker. In the meantime, Dunn and other Fayette officials hope to have the funds in place. There remains no estimated completion date for the road.
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