News | Peachtree City

Part of Ga. 54 to have four lanes by Thanksgiving

Thu, 11/03/2005 - 4:37pm
By: John Munford

Four lanes before Thanksgiving on Ga. Highway 54 West in Peachtree City?

It’s not a joke. A small part of the project will have two lanes in both directions completed before Thanksgiving, as long as its not thrown off schedule by weather or other problems, according to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

But you’ll have to wait until mid-summer for the whole road to be completed. The project is still on schedule to be wrapped up by June 30, DOT officials said.

The small stretch of road that should have all four lanes ready to go by Thanksgiving extends from Ga. Highway 74 to Marketplace Connector. That’s little comfort for anyone having to travel in the construction zone now, as the re-routing of traffic to new lanes for a small distance has caused further slowdowns and delays in the area.

The old bridge over Line Creek has been removed and construction has begun on the new bridge that will span the waterway, which also serves as the boundary between Fayette and Coweta counties, said Dorothy Daniel of the DOT. Also, crews are bringing the southern section of the road up to grade between Hwy. 74 and MacDuff Parkway, Daniel said.

Motorists are already driving on the new bridge built over the CSX railroad near Marketplace Connector.

The $14 million project will include two pedestrian/golf cart tunnels to navigate over the railroad, a sidewalk system, a raised grass median and an unsignalized median opening at Line Creek Drive.

Also, the signals along the corridor will be connected with fiber optic cable so they can be synchronized to help traffic flow better, officials said.

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54 West Project News Story
JWM's picture
Submitted by JWM on Sun, 11/06/2005 - 3:38pm.

Mr. Munford:

I was pleased and surprised by your story that part of the road at Line Creek will be 4 lane soon. Quite appropriate comment that it is not a joke.

Question, if you can it answer it, please. Since this project is speeding up, why do we need to spend all that money on TDK ? The extension of TDK was for traffic relief. Now that 54 is way ahead of schedule and TDK is way behind, why bother with TDK? Maybe there is more information you have planned for another article. Thank you for the story.


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54 West/TDK Extension
John Munford's picture
Submitted by John Munford on Mon, 11/07/2005 - 11:36am.

While there is no doubt that the four-laning of Hwy. 54 will improve traffic flow tremendously, I can still see the need for TDK.
All these new folks moving here (we all used to be one of them, remember?) will have to drive somewhere; many folks need to get to downtown Atlanta and parts beyond. Would you rather put several more thousand cars on Hwy. 54 at drive time, or would you rather them take the TDK shortcut and go up Hwy. 74, particularly after its widened to four lanes within the next few years?
Also, while most of the residential and commercial areas of the city are "built out," the industrial park is not. I've heard some folks say our lack of Interstate access (and the new roadblocks that will be going up in the coming years with future development along Hwy. 74) make the industrial park a tough sell because industries need to get their trucks on the road pronto.
Each industry that comes here contributes significantly in terms of property taxes, while requiring little to no government services.
Some business folks have said TDK will provide additional traffic to help "rejuvenate" the Braelinn Village shopping center on the south side of Peachtree City. I'm not too sure about this, as the trend in retail tends to drift toward what's new. If the owner of Braelinn Village is serious about the property, a little sprucing up might go a long way, especially if the right type of tenants can be attracted there.


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54 West and TDK
Submitted by fran sheldon on Sun, 11/06/2005 - 6:54pm.

I think that the TDK extension was intended to also alleviate traffic. As well as to help workers come in to PTC. So they both are supposed to relieve traffic.

Won’t TDK completed regardless?

Now if we can just solve the on ramp to I-85.

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