The most important lesson

to be learned from the traffic crisis now looming in

Peachtree City is what happens when you depend on the

government, especially the federal government, for

anything.

Everyone affected in this

sordid affair is a victim, and everyone is a perpetrator.

Consider the following:

� The people who designed

Peachtree City and made it a model planned community drew

on the convenience and practical advantages of two major

state highways. Now the city is held hostage by two

traffic-choked roads over which it has no control.

� Along the way, Peachtree

City has developed a quality of life that is the envy of

thousands of people living in other areas. Many of those

people decided to move here, and they brought their cars

with them.

� Major companies and

industries saw the up side of locating here, and they

came with hundreds of jobs and gave the economy a huge

boost. Now the roads to those companies are packed, and

many of those jobs are filled by Coweta County residents,

whose automobiles add to the daily gridlock in Fayette

County.

With Uncle Sam having shut

down road improvements due to air quality guidelines,

taking it all out of local hands, it's easy to garner

sympathy for both sides of the development issue when you

really think about it. The speakers at last week's City

Council meeting are a perfect example.

Planterra Ridge residents,

who already cannot turn left onto Ga. Highway 54 at

various times of the day, are cringing at the thought of

a Wal-Mart and Home Depot opening up right across the

road, multiplying the traffic problem exponentially. They

feel trapped, and rightfully so, by what is surrounding

their neighborhood.

But the land on which the

Wal-Mart is being proposed was designated for commercial

use long before the good people of Planterra Ridge moved

in. Indeed, the family that owns the property has been in

Peachtree City longer than Peachtree City has - some

50 years.

So who gets hurt more? Is

it the residents of places like Wynnmeade who get acres

of concrete in their backyard if the Huddleston property

is developed, or the Huddlestons if the local government

prevents them from selling their land for its

"highest and best use"?

There are no easy answers,

except for one: If you sit back and expect the powers

that be in Washington to solve a problem for you when

you're better off solving it yourself, watch your back.

I've only been driving

through Peachtree City on a regular basis for a little

less than a year, but I came to the conclusion on my own

that this traffic problem has probably been here a little

bit longer than that. The concerns expressed by residents

to the City Council have confirmed that suspicion for me.

Some people think it would

be a good idea to close the gates and put up a "No

Admittance" sign for future developers. But if new

homes and businesses are built in Tyrone or just across

the Coweta County line, there will be just as many cars

coming through as if they were all in Peachtree City to

begin with. This is a regional problem, and two counties

or more will have to live with whatever action is taken

here.

As for whether

transportation should be considered in zoning matters, it

seems to me that it obviously should. But the law is

apparently quite clear in the other direction, at least

according to attorneys who have recently weighed in on

the matter. So there may be some legislative action in

our future regarding that.

I won't even attempt to

predict what will happen here in the next few months. The

City Council has an incredibly tough row to hoe here, and

virtually any direction that body chooses to take brings

with it the threat of legal intervention. That's just a

sad sign of the times.

But while we wait until

2008 (or longer) until Ga. Highway 54 West gets a third

or fourth lane, remember the wise words spoken last week:

"Don't assume anything until you see dirt being

moved."

[Monroe

Roark covers Peachtree City for the Citizen newspapers.

He lives in Henry County, another area facing similar

traffic problems due to clean air regulations and the

resulting federal road mandates of recent years.

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