Take a glimpse into the future.

Imagine what Ga. Highway 54 West will look like in several years.

The state Department of Transportation

plans to widen it to four lanes. A Home Depot and Wal-Mart probably will

be tucked away on the northern side, possibly drawing significant traffic

from Coweta, Fulton and Spalding counties. Other commercial developments

will follow, adding on to the residential subdivisions and apartments

nearby.

A task force studying the developing

West Village area is preparing a plan to handle the new development and

encourage alternate transportation such as golf carts and bicycles. Some

task force members dispute whether the area should look like the rest

of Peachtree City with large buffers or look more "downtown"

with storefronts closer to the highway, since there are few trees to include

in the buffer.

In developing its plan, the

task force has to answer a host of questions:

Will residents in the area

face four or six lanes of crushing traffic just to get into Peachtree

City? Or can access roads behind commercial developments be used to provide

alternate routes to the city?

Where are cart path crossing

bridges needed? Where can a tunnel under the road be used? What about

where the rest of the cart paths go?

Hopes are that the task force's

plan can be funded, at least in part, by funds from the Atlanta Regional

Commission. The ARC will study the proposal once it's submitted and could

look favorably on funding the cart path improvements such as bridges and

tunnels since they encourage "alternate" forms of transportation.

At its meeting Thursday night,

the task force was briefed on the Department of Transportation's latest

design for widening the highway. In addition to widening the highway to

four lanes, the design features a wide grassy median that could be used

to expand the road to six lanes if necessary in the future, said city

planner David Rast.

Task force member Todd Strickland

suggested a plan to use the median for cart path and pedestrian traffic.

He admitted it was a radical idea, but with speed limits on 54 lowered

to 35 mph, it could work, he said.

But many on the task force

were hesitant to buy into the concept, especially since the DOT's design

for the highway could already be set in stone. This coming fiscal year,

the DOT plans to spend $1.8 million in right of way acquisition for the

widening portion of the project, while the $4 million construction funds

are earmarked for the 2003 fiscal year.

That doesn't include the widening

of the bridge over the CSX railroad track near Huddleston Road, which

is scheduled to receive $871,000 in the 2003 fiscal year.

Strickland also suggested having

the commercial developments placed closer to the highway with parking

available in the rear. Although that wouldn't be similar to the other

legs of the Hwy. 54-74 intersection, there aren't many trees to save off

Hwy. 54 West, some argued.

But the majority of the sentiment

appeared against creating a different "feel" than exists in

the rest of Peachtree City.

"How are you going to

sell this?" asked task force member Eileen Shaw. She pointed out

that local residents would have to be convinced to try anything different

in the area.

Most of the task force members

at the meeting appeared to lean toward the plan with more buffering that

was presented by Jerry Peterson of Pathway Communities. But there's a

possibility the task force could submit more than one drawing for the

area, with each having basically the same amenities for the ARC to consider.

On the cart path issue, city

officials have the railroad bridge solution fixed with a unique cloverleaf

design that will link the western area with The Marketplace and The Avenue

at Peachtree City retail centers. But the problem remains of getting traffic

across Hwy. 74 to the Westpark Walk retail/office complex.

Shaw said linking up Westpark

Walk to the West Village could help the complex. Peterson suggested seeking

funds for a tunnel under the road.

Peterson also suggested that

a smaller transit station could be located between Clover Reach and Huddleston

Drive near the current skating rink. That way, it would serve only local

residents and it could be designed to have access to both sides of the

railroad tracks, he added.

Task force member John Dillahunt

said that plan looked much better than the previous location for the station,

which was at the current site of Line Creek Baptist Church on Hwy. 54

across from Huddleston Road.

The transit station concept

merited relatively little discussion compared to other topics the task

force covered, however.

The time frame for completing

the plan is dwindling, as ARC officials have to be updated on the city's

progress the second week of June, Rast said. The plan must first be approved

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