City may proceed without grant, likely speeding up process

The funding crunch at the Georgia Department of Transportation is now hitting Peachtree City.

The result could be that the long-unfinished cart path bridge over the CSX railroad tracks won’t be completed anytime soon.

Funding is on hold indefinitely for a grant to finish the project due to the DOT’s fiscal crisis, City Planner David Rast said Thursday night.

The bridge itself is completed; all that remains is construction of the path links to the bridge, which will span from the bridge down to tunnels built under the road.

The city is compiling estimates on how much it will cost to complete the project without the state grant. That could be a blessing, as it would likely speed up the project compared to the DOT timeline presented to city officials which was really only valid if the grant funding magically reappeared.

If the city handles the project, the only DOT approval needed would be for an encroachment permit, which could be procured from the regional DOT office with little trouble, said City Manager Bernie McMullen.

The DOT was proposing to take a minimum of five to six months before construction could begin, according to a timeline Rast shared with the City Council.

After that, Rast said, “we would be put on a waiting list with all of the other construction projects.”

Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett suggested the city’s newly elected state senator, Ronnie Chance, and state representative, Matt Ramsey, be contacted to get the situation resolved.

“This is ridiculous,” Plunkett said.

Rast said he hated to drop pursuit of the grant because of the amount of staff and consultant time that has been spent on the project.

The project is a continuing saga of such bureaucratic proportions that it has almost become a joke among city officials despite their anger at the continual delays. The sloth’s pace of the project has been blamed on the DOT, its consulting engineering firm and the arduous approval process tied to grant projects.

At one point the project was on hold for months awaiting a permit certifying the path wouldn’t adversely affect air quality. The only vehicles allowed on the path system are electric powered and have no emissions.

Plus the path system’s other patrons — bikers, skaters, joggers and walkers — in some cases improve air quality by ditching their gas-powered autos for short trips that can be accomplished on the paths.

As part of the powerpoint presentation to council, Rast displayed a photo of Assistant City Planner Tony Bernard, with a wide smile as he delivered the latest round of documents to DOT offices Oct. 30. The photo was taken before it was learned funding for the bridge project has disappeared ... at least for now.

Earlier this year it was reported that the DOT faced a $465 million shortfall, but bond financing was used to cut the figure to $189 million.