Peachtree City Council Thursday

will look for ways to help traffic flow through the big jam at the intersection

of Ga. highways 54 and 74.

A host of possible road improvements

for that area, with a price tag of more than $1 million, will be considered

during council's regular meeting Thursday night, according to city documents.

Some of the projects focus on diverting eastbound traffic on Hwy. 54 into

the industrial park through Huddleston Drive. But most of the projects

are designed to allow more traffic to flow more quickly through the 54­74

traffic signal.

The most expensive project

$440,000 is creation of a through lane that would allow westbound traffic

to pass continuously through the intersection of Huddleston and Hwy. 54.

Currently, westbound traffic has to stop there occasionally to allow traffic

to flow out of Huddleston Drive.

If that project sounds familiar,

it should. And so will most of the others proposed by Jim Williams, the

city's director of developmental services.

That's because they were part

of the traffic mitigation plan for the city's new Wal-Mart and Home Depot

stores. RAM Development, the company in charge of that retail project,

was slated to fund certain improvements, including the through lane.

But the studies performed for

those projects have expired, meaning the traffic estimates for each store

will have to be recalculated.

That creates the possibility

that the Wal-Mart and Home Depot site may no longer meet the requirements

of the city's traffic impact ordinance, Williams said in a memo to council.

If that's the case, and if

the entire slate of proposed projects for the area is approved by council,

the city taxpayers would have to foot the $1 million bill.

In the memo to council, Williams

said the city could undertake those projects "in the absence of any

road improvement activity by the developers of Home Depot and Wal-Mart."

"It is felt that if some

work is not initiated soon, the prime construction season will pass by

and opportunities for some immediate improvements will be lost for this

year," Williams wrote.

One project for the 54­74

intersection would add a right turn lane for traffic turning west off

Hwy. 74 onto Hwy. 54. That would allow two lanes of vehicles continuing

south on Hwy. 74 to proceed through the traffic signal at the same time.

Another project calls for extending

the second lane south of the stoplight so traffic would have more time

to merge into the single southbound lane on 74 south.

The city also wants to extend

the length of the Hwy. 74 southbound left turn lane by 250 feet to give

more space to traffic heading east on Hwy. 54.

To keep industrial park traffic

from hitting the 54­74 intersection, the city wants to create a turn

lane so traffic can flow smoothly onto Huddleston Drive. Williams said

he considers this the most important road improvement project to alleviate

morning traffic congestion in the area.

Also, the city could redesign

the intersection of Huddleston Road, Dividend Drive and Paschall Road

to smooth traffic flow to the industrial park, Williams said.

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