Wednesday, May 11, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Longer green lights on Hwy. 54W?By JOHN MUNFORD Traffic on Ga. Highway 54 westbound from Ga. Highway 74 is suddenly much worse, and Peachtree City officials are trying to make some changes to improve the situation. Travel times through the corridor from Hwy. 74 westward to MacDuff Parkway have been reported at upwards of 30 minutes to an hour at times after the lane shift that began last week to accommodate the road widening project. Once done by summer 2006, the project will have four lanes of traffic. But the long wait brought on by the lane shift means that in some cases, residents could theoretically park their cars and walk home faster than they can drive home due to the slowdown. Of the six changes sought by the city, none have yet been accepted because they must be reviewed by DOT officials, said DOT spokesperson Dorothy Daniel Tuesday morning. The DOTs main concerns are the safety and operational aspects of the changes, Daniel said. They all have to be reviewed, she said. Nothing has been approved yet. One of the changes sought by the city would change the timing of the traffic lights on Hwy. 54 stretching from the intersection with Hwy. 74 all the way to the last light in the city at MacDuff Parkway. City officials want the DOT to extend the time lights are green for traffic on Hwy. 54 to help clear the intersection of 54-74. That would translate into longer waits for drivers trying to exit The Avenue, Home Depot-Wal-Mart and MacDuff Parkway onto Hwy. 54. Another proposed change would affect commuters traveling on Ga. Highway 74 southbound. The city is asking to eliminate the turn lane allowing vehicles to get onto 54 westbound, which conceivably cause significant backups for commuters trying to proceed south on Hwy. 74 past the traffic light. If the turn lane were eliminated, one of the two southbound lanes on Hwy. 74 could become clogged with vehicles waiting to turn right that normally would stack in the current turn lane. Eliminating the southbound turn lane would reduce conflicts between vehicles trying to get onto Hwy. 54, city officials said. The city is also asking to ban cars westbound on Hwy. 54 from turning left onto Huddleston Road. Instead the cars would be directed to reach Huddleston Road from Paschall Road, off Hwy. 74. Eastbound vehicles on Hwy. 54 would continue to be allowed to turn right onto Huddleston Road, and vehicles leaving Huddleston would still be allowed to turn left or right onto Hwy. 54 under the citys proposed change. Dana Kinser, who lives in the Centennial neighborhood off MacDuff Parkway, said the lane shift cost residents in the area between a half-hour to a full hour thats added to their commute. In an e-mail to city officials that was copied to The Citizen, Kinser complains that the City Council should approve an annexation north of Centennial that would feature a connection road to Ga. Highway 74 for those living off MacDuff Parkway. That road would connect with the southern leg of Kedron Drive. Peachtree City has always been about the quality of life, Kinser wrote. By not approving the annexation and thereby creating traffic relief, they have nearly killed our lives in the West Village. Earlier this year, council voted to begin studying the annexation, but that project was not put on any type of fast track. |
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