Counties like Fayette may be fighting for scraps as the Atlanta Regional Commission doles out transportation funding for the next decade, said Fayetteville Mayor Mike Wheat this week.

A new transportation plan for the region that will satisfy federal air quality restrictions is on track for finalization by next March, Wheat said Monday after sitting in on a six-hour ARC meeting. ARC is composed of elected and appointed representatives of the member counties and cities.

Tension is high in the planning agency, Wheat said. "Things got very tense today" as officials struggled with the process of planning transportation improvements in the rapidly growing region, said Wheat.

Road improvements in the 13-county region currently are on hold until the federal Environmental Protection Agency approves a master plan that the agency believes will improve air quality in the area. EPA recently declared the region in noncompliance with its standards, halting construction on all but a few "grandfathered" projects.

Even those projects are now on hold, following a federal court's ruling in favor of a lawsuit filed by environmental groups to stop the projects.

ARC reported last week that it is recommending in its Interim Transportation Improvement Program that money earmarked for the grandfathered projects be redirected into transit improvements, including $24 million to convert MARTA buses to natural gas, $30.3 million for bicycle and pedestrian projects and $25.8 million for air quality control projects in the region.

In Fayette County, grandfathered projects include widening of Ga. Highway 74 from Ga. Highway 54 south through Peachtree City, construction of a new bridge over the railroad at Huddleston Road and Hwy. 54, and widening of Hwy. 54 from McDonough Road to Clayton County.

If those projects are included in the ARC's new RTP (regional transportation plan) next year, they can still be completed, though later than anticipated.

But there's another new fly in the ointment, said Wheat. The governor's new regional transportation task force, approved by the state legislature during its session earlier this year, will have veto power over projects in the RTP once the ARC finishes its work.

"They'll be able to take out projects they don't like and replace them with their pet projects," said Wheat. "It's going to be very political."

In the best case, in order to meet federal standards the new RTP will have to provide for spending 40 percent of the region's transportation improvement money including money from local, state and federal sources on public transportation projects, said Wheat.

"That's going to have a very big impact on us because most of the public transportation projects are going to be on the north side," he said.

A proposed shuttle service to Hartsfield Airport, and a possible passenger rail line, are the only projects that might get some of that 40 percent, Wheat predicted.