Don't expect progress anytime

soon on federally funded road projects in Fayette County.

"We've had some stumbling

blocks in getting projects pushed through the process," admitted

David Millen, project engineer for the state Department of Transportation.

Millen oversees federally funded

road projects in a multi-county region that includes Fayette, and fielded

questions from local residents and officials during a town hall meeting

Monday on transportation issues hosted by state Sen. Mitch Seabaugh.

Seabaugh organized meetings

in the two counties he represents, Fayette and Coweta, this week.

Although plans to widen Ga.

Highway 54 from Ga. Highway 74 into Coweta County are listed in Millen's

work program for this fiscal year, the Atlanta Regional Commission is

expected to approve a transportation plan Tuesday that lists the project

for completion in 2010, according to Fayette County Commission Chairman

Greg Dunn, who is the county's representative on the ARC.

Air quality attainment is to

blame for the holdup, he said. Although $8 billion in federal funding

for Atlanta region projects has been freed up and difficulties over air

quality ironed out at least for now Fayette's projects are on a back burner,

Dunn said.

That's because at the time

the air quality issues were resolved, the projects hadn't yet been subjected

to the model being used by the federal government to determine how much

each project will affect air quality, and ARC is fearful that pushing

any of those projects forward might jeopardize the whole funding package,

said Millen.

"It's where they were

in the process when the air quality issue hit us," he said.

The Hwy. 54 project actually

is slated for 2002 on the ARC plan, Dunn said, but the bridge over Line

Creek associated with that project is listed for 2010.

"It certainly does not

make sense to have a four-lane road with a two-lane bridge," Dunn

said. ARC also places a lower priority on Fayette projects, Dunn added,

because other counties' traffic problems are far worse.

"Hopefully, some of these

things can be shifted in funding," Millen said, but didn't hold out

much hope of that.

DOT hopes to start buying right

of way soon for the Hwy. 54 project, Fayette's top priority, Millen said.

The idea is to get all the preliminary work done and then shelve the projects,

hopeful that funding will be shifted when some other project drops off

the list due to unforeseen delays.

Several other counties have

a leg up on Fayette, though, he said, because they have special purpose

local option sales taxes devoted to transportation. "They have that

big pot of money they can use to buy right of way and do preliminary engineering,

and when the money becomes available they're ready to go," he said.

Without a SPLOST, Fayette must

wait until DOT can find the money, and with billions being funneled into

major public transportation projects and larger road projects like the

so-called Northern Arc the first phase of an outer perimeter those funds

are hard to come by, he added.

Another problem, he said, is

a mandate from federal safety agencies to replace 50 bridges within the

next three years. Those projects come from "a different pot of money,"

but getting them done will occupy a lot of DOT's attention, he said.

Among major projects Fayette

officials hope to see funded in the foreseeable future are the Hwy. 54

widening, widening Hwy. 74 from 54 to Ga. Highway 85, widening Hwy. 85

from Hwy. 74 to Ga. Highway 92, widening Hwy. 54 east to the county line,

widening Hwy. 92 south from Jimmie Mayfield Boulevard to McBride Road,

and building the first phase of a pedestrian path along Redwine Road.

The Hwy. 54 east project might

get done sooner than others, said Millen, because it's tied in with higher

priority projects in Clayton County.

Faced with lack of progress

on the major projects, residents attending the meeting had to content

themselves with informing Millen and local transportation officials of

problems on local streets and roads.

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