Council spends $303K to add turn lanes; store to open July 23

A traffic light will help handle the onslaught of vehicles on Ga. Highway 74 north that will flock to the new Target shopping center in Peachtree City.

The light will be located at the intersection of Hwy. 74 and Georgian Park/Ardenlee Parkway. A construction official on-site said Thursday that the Target store grand opening is slated for July 23 although the store will likely be open a few days before.

It could take about a month for all the intersection improvements to come on line, said City Spokesperson Betsy Tyler. To fast-track part of the project, the City Council recently voted to spend up to $303,812 to have Faison’s crews build necessary turn lanes needed for the DOT’s approval of the traffic signal.

That saved a significant amount of time because otherwise the city likely would have had to bid out the project, which could have added months to the timeline.

City officials have been working on this issue for months with the Georgia Department of Transportation; last year the agency told City Manager Bernie McMullen that it would take only 30 days to get a DOT signal permit approved for the location.

Later the DOT decided that additional turn lanes were necessary before the permit could be approved, McMullen said, adding that the turn lanes were the major holdup in the months-long permitting process. The construction will add dedicated left turn lanes to both Georgian Park and Ardenlee.

The intersection will also feature crosswalks that go across Hwy. 74, and each crossing segment will have its own crossing signal and they will be “ramped” so they can be used by persons with disabilities, cyclists and others, officials have indicated.

Faison Enterprises, which is constructing the shopping center and will own all but the Target building, is paying to install the traffic light. That honors an agreement made by a previous developer when the city approved a previous expansion of the retail center, Tyler said. The light was not one of the items required by the city as part of the development lawsuit filed against the city that ultimately was settled.

The money for the project is coming in part from funds currently budgeted for the abandoned project to realign the intersection of Huddleston and Dividend roads, the city’s 2004 public improvement plan contingency fund and a small amount from the city’s facilities buildout plan.