Fayette County officials are seeking public comment on the draft of the county’s latest transportation plan. The county later on will be asking you to pay for parts of this plan.
A multitude of components of the plan can be downloaded from the county’s website at www.fayettecountyga.gov. A link to that documentation will be posted on the home page through Oct. 20, county officials said.
The deadline for comments is noon Wednesday, Oct. 25. Comments may be submitted to publicworks@fayettecountyga.gov, by fax at 770-719-0871 or by mail to Fayette County Public Works, 115 McDonough Road, Fayetteville, Ga. 30215.
The plan breaks down projects into three tiers or groups. The first tier includes projects that are planned to be implemented in five years. In general those projects are designed to respond to the “most critical” needs for the county, focusing on intersections with known safety issues and road segments with relatively high levels of congestion, according to the plan.
Among the first tier of projects are the second and third phases of the West Fayetteville Bypass, which once complete will link Ga. Highway 85 south at Harp Road with Ga. Highway 92 north at West Bridge Road. In fact, like the bypass many of the Tier 1 projects in the plan are projects that are not yet completed from the 2003 countywide transportation sales tax referendum.
Among newer projects not identified on the SPLOST for implementing in the next five years are a road that would reach from Ga. Highway 54 to First Manassas Mile, allowing trucks and heavy vehicles using the county’s waste transfer station to avoid using local Fayetteville streets as they must do currently. That project has an anticipated price tag of $1.96 million.
Other newer projects on the short-term range of the plan are intersection improvements and a traffic signal at Redwine and Robinson roads and intersection improvements at New Hope and Brogdon roads.
The second tier of projects is to be considered in the next five to 10 years including projects that are high priorities although they have no funding sources identified.
Included in this tier of projects is a two-lane east Fayetteville bypass that would reach from south Jeff Davis Drive to Ga. Highway 54, and then from Hwy. 54 to Ga. Highway 85 north. The projected price tag for both phases is $61.6 million and the project has been put on hold due to the high costs.
The third tier of projects is for those with no funding identified and with a longer implementation time frame, usually between 10-20 years. Most such projects are to address needs for the county’s future growth, according to the plan.
The plan also lists several projects that are not recommended to go forward, including the controversial TDK Boulevard road extension into Coweta County.
That project was sacked several years ago after it became known that Coweta County approved a 3,000-home development just off its portion of the road extension that would have ultimately driven a significant amount of traffic onto Ga. Highway 74 at its intersection with TDK Boulevard and Crosstown Road.
Another project not recommended for implementation is an extension of Ga. Hwy. 20 from U.S. 41 in Hampton to Ga. Highway 54 in Peachtree City, which was considered in the Southern Regional Accessibility Study. The plan notes that project would likely have “significant” property impacts in the county and Peachtree City.
