It took more than 30 minutes to drive from City Hall to my home, off MacDuff Parkway, on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 10:30 a.m. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper, and moving in fits and starts. This was largely due to construction that had closed one lane in each direction on Ga. Highway 54 from MacDuff to Planterra.
So much for the promise not to impede traffic during rush hour. Apparently, no one was astute enough (or cared enough) to realize that Saturday during the holiday shopping season created its own rush hour. So much for “planning.”
Wonder, I do, how much in lost revenue this situation will create among the stores and other businesses in that area.
And let’s not forget to include those who created this “planned community,” and placed both Wally World and The Avenue on the same side of the busiest intersection in Fayette County, and who have blithely continued to add stores and eating places along Hwy. 54 west of Ga. Highway 74.
The blame for the slow movement of traffic must be shared by those who used Market Place Connector as a shortcut from Hwy. 74 South, despite signs indicating that was a “no-no.” So much for signs and speed bumps.
And doesn’t this give us a foretaste of the situation that will exist when (if) MacDuff Parkway is ever connected to Hwy. 74? (Answer: Yes. Speed calming devices will not prevent MacDuff becoming a thoroughfare for homeward-bound folks from Coweta County.) “If you build it, they will come.”
The people behind the “Overlook” project, to be built along Line Creek Drive south of Hwy. 54, demanded the intersection at Line Creek Drive, the one that is now being built and which is responsible for the lane closings. The Overlook project has been delayed for years.
Wonder why no one thought to delay the intersection construction until after the shopping season. At the rate dirt and rocks are being removed from the land that will house the shopping center and great-honkin’-gas-station plus another fast food place, the intersection will be completed long before it is needed.
Thinking of that would have obviously required more intelligence and diligence than is available.
Enjoy your holiday shopping, everyone.
Paul Lentz
Peachtree City, Ga.
