Fayette County’s proposed Comprehensive Transportation Plan did not exactly get a ringing endorsement from the Peachtree City Council Thursday night.
Instead, the City Council seized on the proposed extension of TDK Boulevard as a non-starter.
“You’re asking me to open a thoroughfare that sooner or later is going to have to be expanded.” said Councilman Mike King.
King also wondered who was going to pay for the project and if Coweta County was involved in the discussions.
“You’re asking me to pay for Coweta County transients to be convenienced,” King added.
“There’s no way this thing is going to fly,” said Councilman Kevin Madden.
Councilman Phil Prebor agreed and said Coweta residents would just come flooding into Peachtree City.
City Manager Jon Rorie suggested creating a working group with all the affected parties.
“You can’t be a border city and just plan from one side of the border,” he said.
Consultant Michael Kray explained another posible east-west connection could be further south of TDK, near the athletic fields, but Madden said the city needed to look towards the north and south, specifically Tyrone Road and Ga. Highway 85 upgrades as alternative routes for Coweta’s commuters.
“There needs to be some sort of alternative,” Kray said.
Rorie said there was no “magic bullet” solution for the issue, and any project would be 10-20 years out, albeit with more traffic volume.
Fayette County Public Works Division Director Phil Mallon said if the City Council wanted state funding for any of the possible connecting routes, they should just put a vague placeholder in the project list.
He also added he would contact the Atlanta Regional Commission about asking for assistance in working with Coweta County on solutions for the issue.
Countywide, community input on the draft CTP and Master Path Plan was given at events at four community events across the county, at open house events attended by more than 400 residents and by surveys that received more than 1,300 responses.
The draft CTP looked at existing roadways, with a view to future corridor improvements and areas where roads could be widened to meet coming traffic demands.
The plan also considered a draft Master Path Plan. Kray said the idea is to consider expanding the current path system, with an emphasis on safety and amenities.
Potential path projects throughout Fayette include pedestrian paths like those already existing in portions of Fayette, along with greenway trails, signed bike routes and sidewalks.
Path or greenway projects could be planned for Hwy. 54 to Peachtree City, Sandy Creek Road, Ginger Cake Road and New Hope Road.
“My concern is for the goose that laid the golden egg for Fayette County paths would have to standardize to theirs,” said Mayor Vanessa Fleisch.
Draft versions of the plans will soon be available on the county website, www.fayettecountyga.gov.
Mallon said the goal is to have the final plans ready by the end of 2018, then to return the plans to the various jurisdictions for approval in early 2019.
You know, Doug Tucker has a point. Sometimes it takes centuries to determine if a new thing is a boon or a bust. I continue to debate the efficacy of electric lighting and the automobile, and the jury is still out on whether Wilbur and Orville Wright’s flying contraption will ever catch on. Like Henry Ford, I worry that all the skyscrapers on Manhattan Island will eventually sink it into the ocean. I’m with Doug. We should be wary of any innovation because it might upset the natural order of things.
You can’t make this stuff up. Truth is always stranger than fiction!
“Coweta county transients”, “There’s no way this is going to fly”. I and a majority of my Planterra Ridge neighbors will remember these moronic comments the next time these councilmen come up for election. Having lived here over 30 years, 23 in PR, and watched the traffic become more and more unbearable thru our subdivision because there is no other egress from Peachtree City I find this mindset beyond stupid. The road should have been planned for and built with Lake MacIntosh. Do these people actually travel on 54 over Line Creek Monday thru Friday between the hours of 7:00 and 8:30am or ANYTIME on Saturday? I suspect not, based on their absurd comments.
Egress from all points of PTC are desireable and some are better than others. If I want to go to east Sharpsburg or toward Turin, egress from Walmart and Home Depot, through Planterra Way, Plantain Ridge, Kelly Green, Dividend, and right at TDK seems a whole lot better than a right at Hwy 54 and left at the Hwys 54/34 wye. It maybe the same for entry. I also think it’s a shorter traveling distance. What about the people living west of here who transact business on the south side of Hwy 54, between Line Creek and Planterra Way? Egressing to the right on Hwy 54, right on Planterra Way, Plantain Ridge, Kelly Green, Dividend, and right at TDK seems a whole lot better than a left at Hwy 54 and left at the Hwys 54/34 wye seems better, as well.
My spouse works in Newnan and has to drive through the Hwys 54/74 intersection. Though, we’ve only lived in PTC since 1993, and seen many changes, she still enjoys what it’s like to “call PTC home.” We do not want to change that. Our kids, and now our grandkids, live in Planterra. We also want Planterra to be a quiet and peaceful place to raise families.
Here we go again. What will it take for us in PTC to have people with brains in the city council?
Connectivity is key for the life of a city. If the concern is to have this thoroughfare expended later, why don’t we build it big in the first place?
We need people with vision, This is 2018, PTC is not only related to Fayette County, it is totally, commercially (and should be physically) connected with Coweta County, too. Economics should prevail, not backward thinking.
There exists considerable Peachtree City citizen sentiment about extending TDK into Coweta County.
I believe the sentiment carried over into our local elections of two mayoral candidates whowanted to extend TDK. Peachtree City is not an undeveloped area. Tens of thousands have made choices to live and invest here with quality of life expectations. For most of us, our expectations did not include making Peachtree City a pit stop for through traffic, though the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce will certainly make the most of it as a way to promote commercial activities in the county and our taxes to provide the means to do just that. When the Chamber of Commerce promoted extending TDK into Coweta County, Mayor Brown and many residents recognized the extension will detract from the quality of life for many residing south of Hwy 54, north and east of Robinson Rd. Even 10 years ago, turning left onto Crosstown from the Braelinn shopping area was an irritation and an annoyance when tuning right.
Coweta County, through Senoia, had an opportunity to work an east/west corridor with Rockaway Rd being aligned with Redwine Rd (sorry Whitewater and south Fayetteville), but some body of persons (Fayette County, State of Georgia, and/or a developer friendly Peachtree City Mayor/City Council) chose to align Rockaway Rd through the Wilshire neighborhood and Holly Grove Rd. But, a decision was made to align Rockaway Rd. with Holly Grove Rd., rather than Redwine. (a couple of old and close friends sold their house in Braelinn and moved to Newnan because of the Holly Grove connection) The same can be said for a north/south corridor with Fischer and/or Minix Rd(s). As for greater access to I-85S for Peachtree City citizens, how about Coweta County springing for a Rockaway Rd to Gary Summers Rd connection to Hwy 16? Of course, there’s always that killer drive down Hwy 92 or Hwy 16 to get to I-75S.
I like the way our Mayor and City Council are working this. We should interactively concert our transportation planning with neighboring communities and regional efforts. We should not simply allow external interests or conveniences to dictate the composition of our villages’ connections. We actually need, as a state and sometimes as a county, to control development along our highways’ right of ways and bypass those areas that are not controllable.
I agree with Bernie. We have a vocal cadre of residents in Fayette County who resist every initiative for progress. Besides these tired old objections to a very necessary additional artery into and out of Peachtree City at TDK, remember when the tea baggers rallied around stopping the construction of Veterans Parkway. Their entire local slate of candidates ran on the platform of terminating the “Road to Nowhere.” Now that this “unnecessary road” hosts one of the most potent economic engines in the county, the conservatives all line up to have their photo snapped at every ribbon cutting.
Funny, I’ve never heard an apology or even an admission of shortsightedness.
The end does not necessarily justify the means. I see two big and long term issues with the “Road to Nowhere.”
First, the road’s public proponents were not forthcoming as to why the road may have or not been necessary. They literally capitalized on decisions effecting the public without public consent, rammed down our throats (so to speak). Long held trusts were violated for the “good of the many.”
Second, while seemingly all appear to be enjoying the current windfall of taxes and increased commerce, history shows the tax and commercial benefits will not endure. Growth brings additional requirements and expectations (public safety, education, infrastructure, etc.). Industries do change and those tied to them will change as well. Even something as subtle as per capita property values will shift, initially better with industrial growth, and considerably worse with industrial changes. Photocircuits makes a good example, especially in terms of employment, property values, and infrastructure.
Simply analogized, “the fat lady hasn’t sung” and the opera hasn’t ended. There’s still more drama to see. For the long term, I’m not optimistic. I don’t want to live Jacksonville, LA, or Orlando where an industry crippled many of those who were there before it.
This has been discussed for at least 20 Years. It was proposed back when Emperor Brown was Mayor. I have NEVER understood the city’s opposition to this.
It would alleviate much of the traffic problems at 74/54 and give an alternate route into and out of the city.
Who else remembers the nightmare when construction crews cut the gas line on 54 near Line Creek, not once but TWICE, when they were widening 54? You had to go back to Thomas Crossroads and down to Senoia and come into PTC from the south.
It’s not just Coweta residents who would benefit from this.
Are you kidding, extending TDK would benefit Coweta residents and developers to the detriment of PTC residents. There will be hundreds of homes built.. Going to east to Crosstown and the parkway is already congested.