It would truly be a testament to the people and leaders of Fayette County if we could be successful in protecting and preserving what precious little there is left of historic Fayette County.

That is what some city council members in Tyrone are trying to accomplish by opposing the annexation of hundreds of acres of land for development along Ga. Highway 74.

And that is precisely what the members of the West Fayetteville Bypass Coalition are trying to accomplish by opposing the WFB.

Many of our members have had the very unpleasant misfortune to be held hostage by the WFB project for the last 24 years. During those 24 years, we have learned that it is not justified in terms of destroying wetlands and from a traffic density standpoint.

Under the Georgia Open Records Act, we requested traffic studies. However, the county did not provide them. Since the county obviously hasn’t done any, some of our WFBC members took it upon themselves to conduct an independent traffic study.

In other words, at 2:30 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon, we drove from Fayette Pavilion down Ga. Highway 85 to the intersection of Ga. highways 92 and 85 south of Fayetteville.

There were 12 traffic lights. It took us a total of seven minutes to drive 4.2 miles.

Then we drove Piedmont Fayette Hospital along Ga. Highway 54 to McDonough Road. There were 10 traffic lights on that route. That trip took us a total of eight minutes to drive 5.8 miles.

Then at 5:45 p.m., we drove both routes with the flow of traffic and never had to sit through more than one cycle of a traffic light at any of the lights where we had to stop.

I know our independent traffic study was unscientific, but what better way could one find out how bad the traffic is in a certain area than to drive the route?

That brings up another point. More definitively, where are all those cars coming from and where are all those cars going that would supposedly use the West Fayetteville Bypass?

Why doesn’t the county have a professional study regarding that question?

Why don’t we stop all those cars and ask the drivers where they are coming from and where they are going? They just might not even want to go where the WFB leads.

The WFB goes to Westbridge Road, which is more than five miles from Fayetteville. It seems to me that if cars were traveling north and south on Hwy. 85, that is where those drivers want to go. It also seems to me that if cars are traveling east and west on Hwy. 54, that is where those drivers want to go.

The county spends lots of money on land use plans, comprehensive growth management plans, and road improvement plans. I know because I just finished reading, cover to cover, four of these great epistles.

However, with all their plans, studies, and workshops, they can’t, won’t, or, I should say, don’t do comprehensive traffic or wetland studies to justify a road project that will adversely impact the property, investments and lives of everyone in this county.

They just barrel ahead and condemn property without knowing whether or not they can even obtain the “404 Permit” required to cross our wetlands.

What exactly would happen if someone relinquished their property to the county for the purpose of building a road through that property and then the county found out, because of not being able to meet federal wetlands requirements, they couldn’t build the road?

So, are the citizens of Fayette County supposed to foot the bill to the tune of millions of dollars, destroy established neighborhoods, destroy vital wetlands which provide us with water, and further compromise the quality of our air to build a roadway for who knows how many cars to go who knows where?

Didn’t the county just decide they couldn’t afford to open a brand new elementary school they are building on Sandy Creek Road?

They implied they couldn’t open the school because of budget shortfalls. However, they immediately turned around and suggested that Rivers Elementary School could be used for special education programs. Were our economic problems a convenient cover-up for poor planning or over-planning of Rivers Elementary School?

Who knows if or when the economy will turn around? Who knows where all those cars want to go? I don’t and it is apparent the county doesn’t know either.

Ginga Smithfield

Fayetteville, Ga.