The Fayetteville City Council last week voted to transmit a letter to Fayette County asking for assistance with a plan that would help mitigate traffic congestion and improve the traffic flow in several areas east and west of North Glynn Street and north of Ga. Highway 54. The projects are eligible for funding through previously collected 1-cent sales tax (SPLOST) dollars. Commissioners will take an initial look at part of the proposal Thursday.
As reported in The Citizen last week, the proposal would link North Jeff Davis Drive to North Glynn and reconfigure the area of Hood Avenue, Ga. Highway 92 and North Glynn Street. Still another project would extend Lafayette Avenue to Church Street, linking it to Hwy. 92/Hood Avenue/Jeff Davis Connector. This project will be considered Thursday by the County Commission.
The letter proposes a cost-sharing agreement similar to the one used to widen Jimmie Mayfield Boulevard last year.
“The city wants to move forward with the design of both projects at our cost if the county is in a position to fund the construction. We also request the county fund the right of way acquisition of the Hwy. 92/Hood Avenue/Jeff Davis Connector. The city would fund the right of way acquisition of the Lafayette Avenue Extension,” the letter said.
The Aug. 19 letter also noted that the city plans to update the traffic analysis for the targeted areas and show the overall benefits to the projects.
“These projects are on both our (current) SPLOST lists. We propose a cost-sharing arrangement similar to the Jimmie Mayfield Widening project except we would also request the County to pay for right of way acquisition associated with the 92/Hood project because it is a significant cost,” city Public Services Director Don Easterbrook said in an Aug. 19 memo.
Still essentially at the beginning of the proposal, City Manager Joe Morton said it would be approximately three months before the city would know the preliminary cost associated with the Hwy. 92/Hood Avenue/Jeff Davis Connector project.
Fayette County Administrator Jack Krakeel last week said the matter is expected to come before the County Commission at its meeting on Aug. 26. Krakeel said county staff will recommend that the County Commission enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the city to explore the proposal. Krakeel also noted that both projects were included in the 2003 Transportation Plan and that both are eligible through SPLOST dollars.
City staff last week explained that the projects, if an agreement can be reached, will require significant time to develop.
Current plans west of North Glynn Street call for the moving of the traffic signal from Hwy. 92 a short distance south to the intersection with Hood Avenue. West on Hood Avenue just a short distance from North Glynn would be the location of a roundabout that would funnel traffic northeast and northwest onto Hwy. 92.
Motorists at the new traffic signal at Hood Avenue would be able to continue across the intersection on what is proposed to be an extension of Kathi Avenue that would, via another roundabout, link with North Jeff Davis.
The other project would have a traffic signal installed on North Glynn at Lafayette Avenue, and Lafayette extending across the street on a new segment of roadway that intersects with Church Street. And finally, Church Street would be extended north from its current dead-end at Georgia Avenue up to the roundabout at Kathi Avenue.
