Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Traffic answers lie in more than added highway lanes

The biggest mistake that has been made in Peachtree City and all of metro Atlanta for that matter is the inability to predict growth in specific sub-regions (not just cities) and design/implement for the future (15-plus years out).

Nearly all local governments in metro Atlanta are stuck in the instant gratification mode. Peachtree City is on the verge of losing some major opportunities for making some significant road connections/realignments that will help us well into the future.

This absolutely stupid belief that “if we just widen the road, everything will be alright” will kill us all. Look at I-75 in Cobb County at nearly 14 lanes broad: Completely choked. The problem was that no one had the foresight to see that Cobb and Cherokee were going to boom and that there was only one viable way to get to Atlanta.

Most of the Coweta traffic going down Ga. Highway 54 into Peachtree City is not heading into our industrial area. The studies produced by the engineering firm (URS) are laughable. They were off on the Hwy. 54 impacts by a huge margin.

The blessed through lane has created one of the top accident sites in our city. With TDK [Boulevard Extension into Coweta County], we will be diverting a substantial amount of traffic into a predominately residential area.

The obvious byproduct will be that the residents of the subdivisions will eventually have a difficult time pulling out onto Crosstown Road (which is a collector road, not an arterial road).

The creation of the TDK extension is purely for developmental purposes, not traffic relief. The URS engineer told me personally that the extension would only provide relief for two years at best.

Now we are faced with the possibility that the FAA might force us to move the TDK extension (that is not yet built) in order gain any further federal funding for Falcon Field.

To put things in perspective, nearly every capital project and land acquisition at the airport thus far was federally funded. I am amazed that there is a very good chance that we are about to build a road that, depending on the final word that we receive from the FAA, we know that we will have to spend multi-millions of dollars moving in a relatively short period of time or watch our airport suffer for decades. Where is the planning? Where is the accountability?

Within our Peachtree City boundaries, we are left with few options for creating new traffic corridors due to the previous development. One strategy is to work on ways to spread the traffic out: Avoid concentrations in volume.

I am begging John Wieland to work with us on creating a connection between McDuff [Parkway] and Ga. Highway 74. The connection would allow the “big box” traffic from the north to avoid the 54/74 intersection (our Achilles’ heel) and it would allow the thousands of residents in that live in that area the ability to avoid Hwy. 54 west and the 54/74 intersection, thus fanning out the concentration.

If we really care about the future well-being of the city, we now need to look at some “protected” traffic corridors on our south end and look at ways to smooth out traffic all along Hwy. 74.

The planning question that we are supposed to ask is, “Where are the sub-regional growth impacts of the future, 10 years, 15 years and 25 years out?” The wrong question to ask is, “If we add another lane on that road, will it fix today’s congestion problem?”

If we fail to realign Rockaway Road, the citizens of our sub-region in future years will be cursing our current city council for its inability to act when the moment presented itself.

The city staff agrees that the realignment is crucial. When (not “if”) the population of Senoia and Sharpsburg doubles, we will regret not looking at a lot of options. Adding another lane, the traditional Band-Aid approach, will not bode well with angry citizens that trudge along in choked traffic.

Unfortunately, I am not telling you anything that you already do not know. Please do not get me wrong, I am in favor of widening Hwy. 54 West. However, other measures must be taken in conjunction with the project.

I have nothing against the TDK extension as a road project but what we have before us now is not the result of meaningful transportation planning. The time is on upon us to step out, look forward, plan for the future and protect our citizens’ quality of life.

Steve Brown, mayor

Peachtree City, Ga.