Fayette | News

1st phase of W. F’ville Bypass begins

Tue, 06/17/2008 - 4:00pm
By: John Thompson

1st phase of W. F’ville Bypass begins

Elected officials from throughout the county gathered Tuesday morning to officially break ground on one of the county’s key transportation projects.

The officials gathered just off Sandy Creek Road, where the first phase of the 9.8-mile West Fayetteville Bypass is planned.

When completed in 2009, part one of the first phase of the road — 1.6 miles long and costing $6 million — will offer another north-south route throughout the county. The first part of the construction begins near the entrance to Piedmont Fayette Hospital on Sandy Creek Road and heads south until it meets up with Ga. Highway 54.

The entire first phase of the road runs from Cleveland Elementary School on Lester Road, north across Hwy. 54 to Sandy Creek Road.

The completed bypass will be a 45-mph two-lane road for the most part, with four lanes near intersections to help traffic flow. Additionally, a traffic light will be installed at the intersection of Hwy. 54 and the bypass.

When completed, the bypass will join Ga. Highway 85 South of Fayetteville near Harp Road and connect with Ga. Highway 92 North at Westbridge Road.

“This process began in the 1980s,” said Commission Chairman Jack Smith during Tuesday’s groundbreaking. “It was added into the transportation plan in 2003 and we accelerated the process by two to three years by having our workers do it.”

Smith said that there are already some north-south routes to traverse the county, but most of the current roads go through the center of Fayetteville.

“This will run through the middle of the county and offer traffic relief,” he added.

The project is being funded by Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax dollars and is scheduled to open in October 2009.

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Bad use of tax dollars.
aliquando's picture
Submitted by aliquando on Wed, 06/18/2008 - 7:12pm.

Does anyone else think that this is a bad idea? It goes through many residential areas.


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Yes! And how many citizens actually KNOW where it is going?
Submitted by NeedtoKnow on Thu, 06/19/2008 - 9:24am.

It took a long time for me to be able to find a map of where the bypass will actually be located. When I did (http://www.fayettecountyga.gov/finance/SPLOST_spotlight.htm) I originally was only able to see a very poorly scanned map. In the past day or so, a better graphic is available, but it still doesn't show all the street names.

What I really want to know is why The Citizen hasn't been all over this story? Maybe I missed it, but as a county resident, I am MUCH more upset about this bypass than I am about county pay-raises.

This bypass is going to change the face of much of the county. The ONLY part of the bypass that is not residential right now is right at the intersection of Hwy 54 (at Huiett Rd, where the BP station is now). Every other bit of it is residential.

I've been surprised that everyone I've personally talked to has had no idea where the bypass was going to be! In part, I blame the local media for not providing better coverage.

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Actually, the bypass looks
Submitted by Michael S on Thu, 06/19/2008 - 10:01am.

Actually, the bypass looks to continue down Huiet Road and jumps onto Lester Road. I wonder how this will affect the traffic of Bennett's Mill?
I too would like to know when/if the county required a vote for this or if because it was a SPLOST project, was one not needed? As much concern from the citizens in Fayette County that have posted here and attended meetings at the courthouse, why was this still allowed to continue? Do the commissioners of this county not care what the taxpayers want? Is this the only thing they could come up with for spending SPLOST money on?
Have a look at the only meeting thus far, that I've seen it discussed, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_wnTLtHC9Q
There are 3 videos in that series.
This project just stinks.

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Yes, this is a terrible use
Submitted by Michael S on Thu, 06/19/2008 - 9:11am.

Yes, this is a terrible use of SPLOST money. I can bet if the commissioners had property on Sandy Creek Road, this wouldn't be happening. Several citizens of Fayette County have expressed their opposition to this bypass and fallen on deaf ears. We don't need a bypass in Fayetteville.

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