MacDuff Parkway builder Bob Rolader on June 16 gave the Peachtree City Council an update on the parkway extension. Weather permitting, the project is expected to be complete by July 1, 2017.
“The road is being built,” Rolader told the council. “We’re making progress.”
That progress includes grading work expected to be completed by the end of August along with storm drain and curbing expected to be completed by the end of July.
Improvements to Senoia Road, a portion of which is currently closed in preparation for the bridge and the link to Kedron Drive, are expected to be complete in November, Rolader said.
Doubtless the largest portion of the parkway project, and the one that has required the longest waiting period, is the bridge over the CSX Railroad tracks.
“I believe the bridge approval is imminent,” Rolader said, adding that CSX has been paid $250,000 and has received a letter of credit for another $350,000.
Noting CSX requirements, Rolader said a flagman must be on-site “every second we’re working. When a train goes by we have to stop working. This happens seven or eight times a day.”
Responding to a question about how close the project is to receiving the final go-ahead from CSX, Rolader reiterated that CSX has been paid and that he hopes it will be no more than two or three months before construction of the bridge at Senoia Road can begin.
“(The bridge) has been our main focus,” Rolader said. “We’ve got to get this done.”
The cost of the parkway and bridge is now $8 million, Rolader said.
Weather permitting, the parkway will be completed by July 1, 2017, said Rolader.
City Manager Jon Rorie during the discussion noted that the parkway is a complex project and played the video of a drone flight that extended the length of the new roadway. The video clearly showed the scope of the project.
Adding his usual flair and improvisation to the presentation, Rorie at the outset of the video broke briefly into song, singing “It’s a long. long road…”
As for the drone video, it spoke for itself.
The parkway extension totals 1.8 miles and, once completed, will form a nearly three-mile roadway at Ga. Highway 54 West on the south side that will extend to the north across Senoia Road and connect to the signalized intersection at Kedron Drive at Hwy. 74 North.
