News | Tyrone

Palmetto-Tyrone road widening pushed by commission chairman

Mon, 06/25/2007 - 8:42am
By: The Citizen

Touted as quickest, cheapest way to address backlog at 74/I-85

Fayette County Commission Chairman Jack Smith, speaking at Peachtree City’s Town Hall meeting Tuesday night, said transportation improvements are necessary to relieve increasing traffic waits for commuters.

“We have a natural bottleneck that has formed and is getting worse at the interchange of I-85 and Highway 74,” Smith said.

Although there are other options for improving access to I-85, the widening of Palmetto-Tyrone Road would be the quickest and the cheapest, Smith said, noting that’s why he is focusing on that improvement. That widening would allow commuters to use the Collingsworth Road interchange to get onto I-85, Smith said.

The other options are far more expensive and time-intensive, Smith said.

The widening of Palmetto-Tyrone Road was recently cut from the state’s transportation plan because of the $5 billion funding shortfall, Smith noted.

Smith said he has spoken with some Fairburn officials about having a joint effort to support improvements at the interchange of I-85 and Hwy. 74.

“We have to remember that that’s not Fayette County, so we really don’t have anything to say about that interchange unless we get the county that’s located in to have a hand in the improvement.”

Sen. Ronnie Chance, R-Tyrone, noted that he and other officials will have a meeting soon with DOT Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl about possible improvements for the I-85/Hwy. 74 interchange.

One other alternative is to create another I-85 interchange on Ga. Highway 92, Smith said. Former Peachtree City Mayor Steve Brown said that would alleviate a lot of truck traffic that is now causing bottlenecks at the Hwy. 74 interchange.

“It would take some of the burden off Hwy. 74,” Smith said.

Yet another option would be creating an interchange between Collingsworth Road and the Hwy. 74 exits, Smith said.

“The most mentioned site is Bohannon Road, which already crosses the interstate,” Smith said, noting that the project would be expensive.

All of the options will require partnering with either Fulton or Coweta counties to get something done, Smith said. Each one of those improvements has a price tag, he added.

“Trying to get them in the plan and funded is what we’re all about,” Smith said.

Kofi Wakhisi, a project manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission, noted that one proposal would create an access road parallel to I-85 so commuters going south and needing to exit on Hwy. 74 could actually get off the Interstate one exit early.

“That’s the current configuration and design that Georgia DOT is sponsoring,” Wakhisi said.

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Widening helps few
Submitted by twilmore on Mon, 06/25/2007 - 11:39am.

If there is a problem at 74/85 interchange - Mr. Smith should look to fix it there! Don't look to spend a billion dollars on a "quick fix". Quick fixes rarely address the root cause of a problem (74/85 interchange design). They usually end up causing more problems for those previously unaffected (everyone in Tyrone and neighborhoods to the west). They do not adequately fix the old problems (74/85 will still be a bottleneck). They require even more money down the road due to cost overruns and unanticipated "new problems" (eventual redesign of Collingsworth/85).

Widening Palmetto/Tyrone to take traffic to a poorly designed interchange at Collingswoth/85 simply moves the congestion from 74/85. That will require completely redesigning the interchange at Collinsgworth/85 requiring another billion dollars.

Is this an idea based on sound highway engineering or political expediency? Better not to do anything than spend billions on an idea that offers little long term help. This needs to be stopped now, before the politicians force the highway folks to back a bad plan

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The Chairman doesn't have a clue
Submitted by Jones on Mon, 06/25/2007 - 10:12am.

Turning Palmetto-Tyrone into a freeway will kill Tyrone! The surest way to destroy a community is to turn it into a cut-through for daily commuters.

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Widening Does Not Address Key Issue
Submitted by boxwing on Mon, 06/25/2007 - 9:49am.

I understand Mr. Smith's thought on the widening of Tyrone-Palmetto Road, but he is missing the key issue on any cross county road in the Tyrone area - crossing the existing railroad tracks. For the current two lane road in Tyrone, the crossing of the railroad track is the major bottleneck in the traffic flow. The consulting studies done 2-3 years ago showed this. The solution at that time, the Tyrone By-Pass using Trickum Creek to divert traffic to Sandy Creek simply moved the bottleneck to the Sandy Creek railroad crossing. Any potential solution to get traffic from GA74 to the Collingsworth Rd interchange must deal with the railroad crossing issue.

So any widening of Tyrone-Palmetto must include a railroad over pass to actually get any improvement in the traffic flow. This is very expensive and is complicated by the existing development adjacent to the Tyrone-Palmetto railroad crossing.

However, there is another solution that alleviates the need for another railroad overpass - utilize the existing GA74 railroad overpass! Widen Tyrone-Palmetto Road from the Collingsworth interchange up to where it intersects with Swanson Rd. Also widen Swanson and extend it to up to GA74. Eliminate the Tyrone exit ramp, the only such ramp of GA74, and replace with a traffic light and intersection at Swanson and GA74. This would allow traffic to flow between GA74/Swanson/Tyrone-Palmetto without the cost of a new overpass.

This is the lowest cost and quickest was to actually improve the traffic flow with minimum impact to the Tyrone community. Mr. Smith, we in Tyrone are ready to work with you to develop these options while retaining our quality of life.

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