As has been stated several times before, the Ga. Department of Transportation will be widening Ga. Highway 54 and McDonough Road.
At the Feb. 23 County Commission meeting Commissioner Brown took issue with the widening.
I was a councilman when they widened Ga. Highway 74 through Peachtree City. GDOT did not consult with us nor care when objections were made by the citizens. When we proposed changes they would answer us, but did not respond to demands.
The county was silent because it was not in their jurisdiction, just as this widening is not county.
In this widening, the county utility lines will be moved either by the county or by GDOT. who will bill the county. There’s nothing Brown can do to stop it.
It will impact Fayetteville, Peachtree City and the county portions of Hwy. 54 in-between. The Hwy. 54 widening goes from Jonesboro to McDonough Road. That in turn connects to the already widened Hwy. 54 from Fayetteville all the way into Coweta.
Brown does not talk about Peachtree City. Even though he is the District Three commissioner from Peachtree City. Very disappointing.
He displayed ARC maps and talked about what this would do to Hwy. 54, but only as related to Fayetteville.
Why is that? It is because as mayor of Peachtree City, he wholeheartedly supported the widening of Hwy. 54 through Peachtree City. In spite of being repeatedly warned it would create a developer corridor, which it did.
He blames the Hwy. 54 congestion on prior administrations who rezoned industrial to residential.
Further, the retail development in West Village was done when he was mayor. At which time he did handshake agreements, not written ones. Unfortunately, developers did not live up to those agreements, which shows he does not understand land planning as he keeps claiming.
He also said when he was mayor, the only solution to the hwys. 74/54 intersection was proposed with him in the lead in 2004.
In 2009 we unanimously rejected that plan. It destroyed The Avenues, Westpark and Marketplace. As well, once traffic exits the intersection, hwys. 74 and 54 still would still have the same number of cars and the same congestion issues.
He tries to claim widening Hwy. 54 didn’t cause any congestion, and now blames the Green T (continuous green lane).
Brown also claims the fixes at 74/I-85 will fix the traffic issues on Hwy. 74, including 74/54. But that is false. The same amount of traffic will be on Hwy. 74. Much of it from Coweta.
GDOT says that the proposal I put on the table for ramps from Fischer to I-85 will give Peachtree City a lot of traffic relief. Brown says it is not gonna happen because Coweta does not want it.
Well, GDOT owns I-85 and the land where the ramps would go. So Coweta could not prevent it.
So who is Brown representing, District 3 and Fayette or Coweta? After all, Coweta is a major source of the congestion.
I have met with GDOT and never seen evidence of his claimed great relationship with them or with Fairburn.
Where is the representation of District Three by Brown? Sure seems to me he is far more concerned with what Coweta wants than us. That he is far more concerned with his power and status than anything else.
District Three deserves better.
Don Haddix
Peachtree City, Ga.
