New bridges over the Flint River, Camp Creek and

Morning Creek on Ga. Highway 54 between Fayetteville and

Jonesboro will be open for traffic next spring, Ga. Dept. of

Transportation (DOT) officials say.

Fred Landrum, DOT area engineer in the Hapeville

headquarters, says that a plan for four-laning the busy highway has

been shelved by air-quality issues, but the road will likely be

enlarged at some future date.

"That is the plan," Landrum said, "but it's just a question

of when it will be done."

Meanwhile, the narrow old bridges over the three

waterways are being replaced, with highway alignment shifting to the

new bridge locations. The portion of Hwy. 54 from the Flint River

to Tara Boulevard in Jonesboro already has been resurfaced

and slightly widened, but remains only two lanes.

Designation of the 13-county area around Atlanta as a

"non-attainment area," meaning that no new air pollution sources may

be added, has limited DOT work on some highway projects,

Landrum said, particularly widening of existing roads.

"From the transportation standpoint," he said, "when

traffic stands still or moves more slowly, more emissions are put into

the air. But I think the reason for limiting widenings or four-lanings

is that those kinds of roads promote development, which would

add more traffic."

Sunbelt Structures is the construction company for the

new bridges, which will be one lane each way with emergency

lanes. The contract calls for completion by March 1, 1999, according

to Dave Zoeckler, DOT assistant area engineer for the

construction project.

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