Fayette County on April 6 reported that the partial cloverleaf interchange upgrade date at Interstate 85 and Ga. Highway 74 has been moved up three years to 2020.
Fayette County Clerk Tameca White said in 2016 the delivery schedule for the project was delayed due to design and funding issues.
“However, a unified effort of Fayette County, Peachtree City, Tyrone, Fairburn and the South Fulton Community Improvement District, paid off in March with the Ga. Department of Transportation (DOT) agreeing to provide the necessary funds and advancing the scheduled construction start from FY 2023 to 2020,” said White. ”Between now and then, DOT will complete design, address environmental issues, secure the appropriate permits, and acquire the land needed for the construction. When complete, the project will provide significantly improved access to and from the interstate, reduce delay at traffic signals, increase capacity on Hwy. 74, and replace the two existing bridges over the Interstate. Per the Atlanta Regional Commission, the revised cost estimate for the project, including the accelerated schedule, is $47.836 million.”
Since 2012, DOT has been looking at various options to upgrade the interchange to handle growing traffic volumes, said White.
“In 2014, as a result of an effort led by Fayette County, Peachtree City and Tyrone, DOT agreed to the current partial cloverleaf design, which provides more capacity than other, less expensive, options previously recommended by DOT,” White said.
A March 20 letter from DOT Chief Engineer Margaret Pirkle to Town of Tyrone Mayor Eric Dial said DOT is completely committed to “this vital project” through the Plan Development Process.
“Currently, right-of-way funding is proposed for FY 2018 and construction funds are proposed for FY 2020,“ Pirkle said.
In February 2017, Dial and Fayette County Commission Chairman Eric Maxwell travelled to DOT headquarters in Atlanta to attend a planning session. That meeting was then followed up with a joint letter.
“It looks like the planning session with DOT returned significant dividends with the interstate project being moved up by three years,” Maxwell said.
