In a bid to prevent a tragic auto crash, the Peachtree City Council is expected to vote Thursday night to spend $8,298 to install yellow flashing beacons on Ga. Highway 74 for the city’s Baseball and Soccer Complex.
The upshot is that the cost is for solar-powered beacons, allowing the city to duck the cost of extending a power line to the site and also the recurring electric bill.
It would have cost more than $16,000 just to extend the power line, city officials said.
And the Georgia Department of Transportation will be installing the lights, at a further savings to the city.The matter will be discussed at the council meeting at City Hall Thursday night starting at 7 p.m.
Last year city staff raised concerns that motorists leaving the complex would face a dangerous situation after the widening of Hwy. 74 is complete.
Because so many residents would be turning to go north across four lanes of traffic, the potential for a serious accident or worse would go up significantly, officials worried.
The city had previously lobbied GDOT for a fully-operational traffic light, but there was never enough traffic at the intersection to meet statistical requirements for a light, officials said.
In December, several council members personally petitioned the state’s DOT commissioner to lobby for the full traffic light. Instead, DOT agreed to the flashing yellow light, and also that it would go back and conduct an in-depth review of the intersection to see if it meets the guidelines which require a light to be installed.
There’s also a chance that after the widening the conditions might justify an exception to the statistical data requirement for traffic counts at the intersection, officials said.
The beacons will be located at the northern entrance to BSC, and the southern entrance will be made a right-in, right-out only when the road is widened, officials have said previously.
Funding for the flashing beacon will come from funds the city has set aside to move the monument signs for BSC after the road widening is complete.
