Rain delays lake dredging

Rainy weather is making the dredging of Lake Peachtree a slow-go. The expected completion date, weather permitting, is looking more like early August.

Rainy weather for more than a month has plagued the dredging efforts of Massana Construction to remove 64,000 cubic yards of accumulated soil and plant material in the area immediately to the south of the Ga. Highway 54 bridge.

“The weather has set us back,” Fayette County Manager Steve Rapson said on Monday, adding that, weather permitting, the dredging will come to an end in early August.

Dredging activities are being performed during daytime hours while debris hauling has been changed to only nighttime hours after residents expressed concerns about safety issues on Hwy. 54 where dump trucks are hauling soil and plant debris from Lake Peachtree onto Hwy. 54 just west of the bridge.

Hauling is now occurring after the business day, from 7 p.m. until the morning.

Despite the rain delays, Rapson said a way was found to carve out an area so the annual Peachtree City fireworks display can occur on July 4.

Another facet of the work on Lake Peachtree, one that is not as noticeable as the dredging activities, is work on the spillway on the lake’s south side.

Rapson said the $75,000 project is expected to begin next week and be completed by the end of May.

Beyond those projects, the Peachtree City Council in early April voted to spend $24,000 to dredge the Pinecrest Boat Dock off Hip Pocket Road.

The council decided against spending more than $900,000 to dredge a larger area in the center of Lake Peachtree.