A group of homeowners in the Brechin Park subdivision just south of Peachtree City is concerned with the design of the road widening project for Ga. Highway 74 South.

The current plan is for the state to build a concrete island between the northbound and southbound lanes in front of the subdivision entrance. That would force Brechin residents to go south on Hwy. 74 before U-turning to go north into Peachtree City.

Several residents who spoke to The Citizen recently said they were open to solutions for the problem, even the radical idea of moving the subdivision entrance so it would align with the entrance to the Starr’s Mill school complex.

A petition opposing the concrete island plan has been signed by almost all Brechin Park residents and distributed to the Georgia Department of Transportation. They are also working to contact their state legislators in hopes of getting a meeting with the DOT to smooth things out.

The subdivision consists of 81 homes, which includes not only parents driving, but “a lot of kids and teenagers” too, said resident Ginger Sack. And about 90 percent of the time, Brechin Park vehicles are going to Peachtree City, because that’s where the stores and services are, Sack noted.

“I just feel like we as a community have to do something,” said Brechin Park resident Carla Anderchak. “Because I know that somebody’s going to get killed there, and it’s going to be a teenager.”

Brechin residents learned about the design at a recent meeting at Starr’s Mill High School, and turns out the school’s proximity is one reason the median divider is necessary, they were told.

That’s because highway design regulations require a minimum distance between full intersections on a four-lane highway, which is what Hwy. 74 will become, stretching from nearby Ga. Highway 85 all the way up to Ga. Highway 54.

Not only will the proposed island be inconvenient for Brechin Park homeowners, it will also cause a safety problem for school buses that will also have to U-turn on the highway, Anderchak said.

There are also concerns about how long the turn lane for the U-turn area will be, she added.