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Alliance looks to tackle Hwy. 74 traffic problem

Group includes representatives from 3 counties, various cities

By BEN NELMS
bnelms@TheCitizenNews.com

Recent Atlanta Regional Commission population forecasts predict an increase of 488,747 residents of the south, southwest and west-southwest metro areas by 2030.

Positioned between those two slices of the metro Atlanta pie is I-85. Current traffic conditions along the growing Ga. Highway 74 corridor, the burgeoning north/south traffic artery serving Fayette, southwest Fulton and east Coweta counties, continue to worsen.

Current congestion along the Hwy. 74 corridor will become a non-stop nightmare in years to come unless something is done in time, officials predict.

Unwilling to mimic the traffic woes that have come to define north metro Atlanta, a novel grouping of stakeholders recently formed the Hwy. 74 Alliance with the idea of solving the problem before it arrives full-blown.

The group includes Fayette, Fulton and Coweta counties, South Fulton Community Improvement District (CID) and the municipalities of Fairburn, Tyrone, Union City, Peachtree City and Senoia.

Meeting Aug. 25, CID representative Jay Knight and Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown announced that Fairburn, Union City, Peachtree City and South Fulton CID have adopted resolutions supporting the alliance. Other stakeholders, Knight said, were in process of studying it.

At the Aug. 25 meeting, the second for the alliance, members received a report on the entities that had adopted a supportive posture and agreed to begin the work of creating mission and vision statements to provide the impetus to move forward.

Commitment from several governments thus far led the group to conclude that the alliance will move forward even if some members choose not to participate.

The initial conversation during the July 21 meeting concerned Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) components that addressed needed enhancements to the I-85/Hwy. 74 interchange and other potential areas in the vicinity.

A discussion between stakeholders from the affected jurisdictions and Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) representatives resulted in the preliminary agreement of five MOU components.

Those components, though not definitive at the present time and open to modification, represented possible solutions to the impending traffic congestion along I-85 from Flat Shoals Road in Fulton County to Gullat Road in Coweta County and the surface streets that would logically be affected by the growing population.

Though still general in nature, the five preliminary components contained in the MOU included

• Improvements to the Hwy. 74/I-85 interchange and adjacent impacts.

• Consideration of a half-diamond northward on to I-85 from Ga. Highway 92 and adjacent impacts.

• Implementation of a van-pooling and park and ride lot site identification.

• Representation from the jurisdictions within South Metro Atlanta on the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Freight Study.

• Consideration of DOT Interstate Justification Report (IJR) and Interstate Modification Report (IMR) studies for area interchanges.

DOT District Traffic Operations Manager Harry Graham told alliance members that DOT Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl likes the ideas coming out of the alliance meetings. He congratulated members on their willingness to break new ground by forming the alliance, adding that their participation as a unified group could serve as a prototype for future efforts around the state.

“Based on that, (Linnenkohl) is prepared to support the group’s efforts and direction. There is still some initial work that has to go forward. The next step would be to identify the funding sources and getting started on the preliminary design as we move forward,” Graham said. “The department is certainly excited about this. This is more than I had envisioned when we got this thing started. This MOU brings the unified entities individually together and says, yes, we are going to work together and this is where we perceive we’d like to start.”

Alliance members agreed with Fulton County Public Works representative Earnest Slaughter and Fairburn consultant Sandra Hardy that the public should be kept informed of the unfolding efforts and their participation included in an appropriate manner to ensure both the support and success of the project.

DOT has historically referred to Interstate Access Requests as either IJRs or IMRs. An IJR is a request for approval to add a new interchange on the Interstate System. DOT’s Office of Planning prepares IJRs and submits them to Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). An IMR is a request for approval to add or modify access points to an existing Interstate interchange. DOT’s Pre-construction Division is responsible for preparing IMRs.

The next meeting of the alliance will be held at the offices of Renaissance at Southpark on Oct. 5 at 11:30 a.m.