A March 22 request by Commissioner Steve Brown that the Fayette County Commission ask the Ga. Department of Transportation (DOT) to cease the McDonough Road widening project was tabled until the May 10 meeting.

Above, the Fayette County Commission at its March 22 meeting. Photo/Ben Nelms.

The project that would widen McDonough Road from Interstate 75 to Ga. Highway 54 in Fayetteville has been on the DOT books for a decade.

Brown asked the board to request that DOT not engage in the widening project.

After a very lengthy presentation by Brown and a number of comments from commissioners, the agenda item was tabled until the May 10 meeting.

Chairman Eric Maxwell prior to the vote said he could not vote for the original motion due to his plans to go the the DOT office to receive additional information on the project.

Commissioner Chuck Oddo in his comments said the commission is “going around” the county’s transportation committee, whose responsibility is to identify traffic problems and make recommendations.

“We’re bypassing them again. Why do we have a transportation committee?” Oddo asked. “We’ve got a project that’s been on the books for years and now we’re trying to stop it.”

The widening of McDonough Road, temporarily to be called Ga. Highway 920, is part of the connector network envisioned by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Brown in a previous meeting presented a July 2013 letter from Fayette County Public Works noting 14 concerns about the Hwy. 920 widening.

Maintaining that the project’s purpose is to increase vehicular capacity in Clayton and Fayette, Brown questioned the effect of having increased traffic through Fayetteville and north Fayette by having that roadway serve as the local leg and metro arterial connector for the regional transportation system.