The city's traffic task

force has postponed its January meeting, and in the

meantime some of its members are wondering just what

exactly the group will be trying to accomplish when it

convenes again.

The last meeting found

members scrambling to come up with answers for problems

related to the proposed Home Depot site plan on Ga.

Highway 54 on the western end of town. Now that the City

Council has approved that application, it remains to be

seen what the task force will tackle next.

Mayor Bob Lenox, who put

the group together in response to comments from residents

of the Planterra Ridge subdivision, acknowledged this

week that he is not really sure what to do now, although

he said the task force should definitely continue to

meet.

"We've got an

interesting and diverse group," he said, pointing

out that a lively and productive discussion took place at

the December meeting.

Lenox talked with city

manager Jim Basinger earlier this week about the task

force and its mission, he said, and both men agreed that

another meeting should be scheduled.

When the task force met for

the first time in November, the meeting date was

established as each first Monday.

This month's meeting was

moved back a week, to Jan. 10, due to the holidays, then

changed again to Wednesday, Jan. 12, at 4:30 p.m.

The task force is composed

of a number of people, including city staff and residents

of neighborhoods in the city's western corridor who are

directly affected by the ongoing development near hwys.

54 and 74.

The December meeting was

conducted under a bit of a deadline, as the Home Depot

proposal was already on the City Council's agenda for the

next week and members of the task force learned they

could not change that. There was some interest in putting

off the council decision to give the task force more time

to work, but Lenox said that could not be done.

Last month, the task force:

reviewed state DOT plans

for the future widening of Hwy. 54;

discussed options for

median cuts and traffic signals in the western corridor;

looked at possible

alternate entrances to the Home Depot site; and

talked about construction

issues relating to the existing railroad bridge on the

highway and Line Creek Baptist Church, next to the

Huddleston property.

Estimates for the Hwy. 54

widening cite mid-2005 as a realistic date for

completion.