By MONROE ROARK
Staff Writer

Peachtree City officials last week saw a graphic display of the traffic situation around Ga. highways 54 and 75, and it was not a pretty picture.

An hour-long discussion during the regular City Council meeting was highlighted by a computerized traffic simulator presented by Dames and Moore, the traffic consultant commissioned by Cousins Properties for The Avenue, the shopping center being built at City Circle.

That presentation projected on the big screen what motorists who navigate this corridor every day already know — it's crowded, and there's little relief in sight.

The city is paying particular attention to Hwy. 54 on the western end of town, from Hwy. 74 to Line Creek and the Coweta County line. As that area sees an increasing amount of commercial development, city officials are considering measures specifically aimed at slowing things down.

To that end, a public hearing will be conducted at the Sept. 16 City Council meeting to discuss a traffic impact ordinance or possible building moratorium for the area.

Development director Jim Williams recommended last week that the city adopt a traffic model for the entire corridor similar to the one Dames and Moore worked up for The Avenue. Any proposed development would then be plugged into the model, and if it shows a worsening of the traffic situation, there's no development.

The consultants have already recommended an additional traffic light for The Avenue, on Hwy. 54 across from Don Pablo's restaurant.

The Avenue is scheduled to open some time next year. But several other commercial ventures are set to open in the same neighborhood well before that, such as Chili's and On The Border restaurants and a Staples office superstore.

Those will sit across the highway from The Avenue, near Longhorn and Don Pablo's. So in a few months, cars will be spilling out from both sides of Hwy. 54 in record numbers.

“People wanting to turn left [onto Hwy. 54] will grow beards and age while waiting,” said Williams.

On a more somber note were the comments from Police Chief James Murray and Fire Chief Gerald Reed. Their departments have to contend with getting emergency vehicles to accident scenes where traffic is already snarled.

Murray noted that traffic signals and other improvements on Hwy. 54 are good, but they still leave a two-lane road that becomes completely blocked when an accident occurs, and they are becoming more frequent — a total of 40 in the first six months of 1999 just at the intersection of 54 and 74.

“I don't see any relief until it's four-laned,” said Murray.

Reed said that when responding to the west side of the city, his vehicles often have to take the opposite lanes, which is considerably more dangerous for everyone.

A resident of Wynnmeade put the traffic volume in perspective when he said, “We're putting ten pounds of sand in a two-pound pail.”

With development continuing both in Peachtree City and across the line in Coweta, the logical answer would seem to be widening Hwy. 54. But federal air-quality guidelines and the resulting litigation have stopped those plans cold.

A project manager for the Georgia Department of Transportation said that the original schedule called for right of way acquisition to begin this summer, as most of the preliminary engineering has already been done.

As a result of the lawsuit that has put road projects on hold throughout metro Atlanta, the widening of Hwy. 54 has been rescheduled, with right of way acquisition starting in 2003 and construction being completed about 2008.

Mayor Pro Tem Annie McMenamin asked if municipalities could go ahead and do projects themselves if they so wished. She was told that the issue is a bit murky in that regard, but tampering with a federally funded project could lead to some liability down the road.

Councilman Jim Pace asked if any relief could be found on Hwy. 74, and if a “back door” for Wynnmeade could be created. Those questions will be considered as well when addressing the needs of the entire corridor.

City manager Jim Basinger pointed out that since Dames and Moore has already conducted a study for a portion of the area, it would be considerably cheaper to go ahead and commission them for the model Williams suggested. The City Council agreed with this.

City attorney Rick Lindsey laid out the guidelines for a possible moratorium, including the public hearing next month, saying that all affected property owners and developers would have to be considered based on what they have already invested in their respective projects.

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