News | Peachtree City

Saga of the Hwy. 54W. cart bridge continues: Another DOT delay

Fri, 10/16/2009 - 3:04pm
By: John Munford

The cart path bridge over the CSX railroad tracks off Ga. Highway 54 West and next to Best Buy is another big step closer to being ready.

A contractor has been selected to construct the approach paths to the bridge, a process that will take about 60 days to complete.

Dirt cannot be turned yet, however. The Georgia Department of Transportation has to approve one more document: a “notice to proceed.”

Once that document is signed, construction may begin, Peachtree City Manager Bernie McMullen told the City Council Thursday night. He said the last permit the city needed was turned around by DOT in nine days, so he is optimistic work will begin soon.

Meanwhile, a similar cart path bridge on the southside that has also remained dormant for some time is now under construction. The bridge over Flat Creek will connect the Morallion Hills subdivision and the rest of south Peachtree City to the Southpark industrial park.

The holdup on this bridge has been design issues, as residents near the bridge expressed concern with the original design. The residents worried the design for the approach paths for the bridge would ultimately lead to flooding issues on their property.

A new design was rendered and now construction has begun with pilings into the creek bed to support the approach paths. Like the 54 West path bridge, the Flat Creek bridge structure has been in place for well over two years, awaiting only the path connections before it can be used.

The delay on the 54W bridge was due to a variety of factors. The bridge and necessary tunnels were finished more than three years ago when the highway widening was completed.

But the approaches to the bridge were considered a separate project by DOT, so the funding for the grant and the associated document review process was slowed considerably.

The 54W bridge paths will cost $157,490 and the winning bidder was Lewallen Construction of Marietta.

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"Sage"
Submitted by PTC Observer on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 8:57am.

Gee I didn't know that the city, county and DOT had so many projects screwed up. Kind of reminds me of those old "key stone cops" films.

Let's hope we don't create anymore projects until these are cleared up or our money will just go down a couple more rat holes.

Bumbling incompetent “servants” of the people please go out and find some other line of work. You know 7/11 clerk or something you are qualified to do. Wait a minute....... I apologize to the 7/11 clerks.

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Aaannndddd, What About The Tunnel Access
Submitted by PTCGOIL on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 9:05pm.

paths to be built at Paschall Rd. and Hwy 74 to GET to the Bridge To Nowhere for the 50% plus of the city who live SOUTH of this crossover????

Still no handover by GDOT of maint. of Hwy 74 and still negotiating with property owner(s) for right(s) of way to this tunnel????? Let's call Lankston Johnson, Project Mgr. for GDOT at 770-282-4487 and see what his little "delay" story is.

Time to find out who this property owner might be, too, who seems to be taking WAY too much time here....Anyone know who it is?

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Sorry About This Phone #
Submitted by PTCGOIL on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 10:14am.

I received and email reply from GDOT last Fri. and did not even think to call it before posting the above info. For some reason I assumed the GDOT would give accurate information........(HAHAHAHHAA). Well, I just called the phone # above and the line is disconnected. And this was directly from a GDOT email....can someone just FIRE THE WHOLE LOT OF THEM FOR ME??? ARRGGGHHH...

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Delays - Don't blame owners
Submitted by citizenal on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 9:04am.

The two companies north of the Pascal Rd tunnel have been pressing the city to complete the work before some poor cart gets squashed by trucks on the street. The delay isn't from them. Sounds like an excuse to me.

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Paschall Rd. Tunnel under Hwy 74
Submitted by PTCGOIL on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 11:43am.

Just spoke with Kevin Eubanks (Project Mgr) from C W Matthews (contractor for GDOT) for Hwy 74 widening from Hwy 54 to Gardener Park. He has granted permission to PTC to mow Hwy 74. He still has his "punch list" from GDOT of items to correct/finish for GDOT. Says the rain the last 2 weeks caused him to pull his workers from this road to work elsewhere. They have to finish the current project they are on first, before he brings them back here, EVEN though that project was started AFTER this one.

He "HOPES" to have the punch list here finished by Thanksgiving. He also stated there is NO REASON PTC cannot start the construction on the tunnel access paths under Hwy 74 at Paschall Rd. NOW. He is even willing to sign a letter to PTC to agree to it. All PTC has to do is request it. He said the punch list completion will NOT affect the path construction. He also was NOT aware PTC planned to do ANY landscaping on that stretch of highway thus his sense of lack of any urgency getting this punch list done. I informed him of the grant money the city has and the presentation at the City Council mtg. last Thurs. eve. that had Plunkett and Logsdon preening like a couple of peacocks about this wonderful hwy. we're going to see.

Tell me, WHY HASN"T PTC LET THE MAN IN CHARGE OF THIS WHOLE ROAD WIDENING KNOW THAT THE LANDSCAPING PLANS BEING DELAYED BY PTC DUE TO HIS LACK OF PUNCH LIST COMPLETION????? Are you listening Bernie McMullen???? How about you Cyndi and Harry? Quit acting like you are so on top of things when you are three nothing but hot air.

So, the ball bounces back to PTC, AGAIN.

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Goil..
Submitted by Spyglass on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 1:04pm.

I don't think I would believe ANYTHING the GDOT or a Mathew's employee said at this point about this 74 project.

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Spy
Submitted by PTCGOIL on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 1:38pm.

You are so right. What I didn't include here was the whining he did about the million or so the GDOT hadn't paid Matthews for this project going back over a year. I reminded him they paid that million over a month ago and it's not a valid delay "excuse" anymore.

There are still no answers on what the "property rights" status is here. If PTC is in a dispute with a property owner (for *&^% sake, the city has only had close to 3 years to get the land issue solved for the paths), let it be public. What is the beef? If you were at the council meeting and heard these city officials preening about all their accomplishments, it would make you gag.

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citizenal
Submitted by PTCGOIL on Tue, 10/20/2009 - 10:25am.

Thank you for the info. Do you mean property owners on the west or east side of Hwy 74?

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