One year after it was originally supposed to be completed, progress on Peachtree City’s long-delayed golf cart bridge is gaining some steam, city officials reported last week.

The process is now proceeding to the right-of-way acquisition phase, and the next step will be to enter a construction management contract with the Georgia Department of Transportation, said City Engineer David Borkowski.

The bridge, which spans the CSX railroad tracks along Ga. Highway 54 West, was initially scheduled to open in April of last year. The bridge deck has been in place since the road construction was finished in fall 2006, but the path connections leading to the bridge have not yet been constructed.

Because the city got a state grant to partially fund the project, it has been mired in delays in large part due to navigating the approval process, city officials have said previously.

“I guess getting grant money isn’t all that great,” said Mayor Harold Logsdon said Thursday night as the City Council was updated on the project.

The DOT built special tunnels under the bridge to accommodate the path connections, which will spiral up from ground level to lift the paths above the railroad and onto the bridge.

The project has been delayed so long that the DOT required the city to refresh its environmental study on the bridge, which has already been done, Borkowski said.

Borkowski said he still didn’t have a good time frame for construction to begin, although if the necessary right-of-way is donated, it could speed the process up. City Manager Bernie McMullen said he thinks the bid to build the path connections will be awarded sometime this year.

Much of the initial holdup was due to a DOT review of whether or not the bridge would negatively impact air quality, city officials said.

Ironically, the cart path system is widely recognized for improving air quality by encouraging residents to walk or drive their golf carts or bikes instead of driving in their cars for short trips.

Another facet of the holdup was a personnel change at Moreland Altobelli, a private engineering firm that is doing engineering review work on DOT’s behalf, city officials have said.

The city initially planned to have the bridge open for use this past April. The delay has not been the fault of the city, McMullen has previously said.