A picture is sometimes worth a thousand words. That is the easily case with the drone video of the work currently underway on the expanse of the MacDuff Parkway extension that will link the parkway to Ga. Highway 74 North and Ga. Highway 54 West in Peachtree City.
The video can be accessed through the city’s website or on its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/95326628866/videos/10153825738698867/
The video was shown at the June 16 City Council meeting and was subsequently posted online.
The drone flight totals more than five minutes and begins on the south side where the parkway currently ends. It shows the grading and other work occurring all along the extension in a way that cannot be experienced except by an overhead view.
Early into the video the beginning of the Everton subdivision can be seen on the right while, much further to the north the initial grading for the Cresswind subdivision can be seen on the left. Both subdivisions will each be the future location of more than 600 homes.
While hard to distinguish, the tree line ends at Senoia Road and the drone video jumps a section of trees and picks up on Kedron Drive a short distance from the traffic signal on Ga. Highway 74 North.
Parkway builder Bob Rolader on June 16 said he expects the parkway to be complete by July 1, 2017, weather permitting.
The biggest hurdle to jump, both now and in the past, is the bridge over the CSX Railroad tracks at Senoia Road.
“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 the 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.
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.
