Drivers, you could wait up

to eight years or as few as two years for bridge widening at Peachtree

City's busiest highway intersection.

While widening the western

leg of Ga. Highway 54 in Peachtree City to four lanes has been given the

green light by regional and state transportation officials, one key piece

to the puzzle is missing: money to widen the railroad bridge between Huddleston

Drive and Hwy. 74.

The bridge, just west of The

Avenue shopping center entrance, is viewed by many citizens as the current

choke point during peak traffic periods, particularly for westbound traffic

which must merge from two lanes into one before proceeding over the bridge.

But Peachtree City Mayor Bob

Lenox said he is optimistic that the state Department of Transportation

will find the funds necessary to complete the railroad bridge at the same

time the rest of the project is built. Lenox said he has been told the

cost for the railroad bridge widening is not higher than normal.

"The DOT has a national

reputation for doing the job well economically and maintaining their roads,"

Lenox said. "... I am extremely confident that we will have the railroad

bridge back in there and everything will proceed on schedule."

The Georgia Regional Transportation

Agency and the Atlanta Regional Commission have officially approved the

widening of Hwy. 54 and a host of other projects as part of the 2002-2004

Transportation Improvement Plan.

The TIP does include funding

for a partial solution to the traffic crunch at hwys. 54 and 74. With

a completion date of 2003, $150,000 has been earmarked for intersection

improvements to Huddleston and Dividend Drive.

The city wants to realign the

intersection so the roads meet at the same junction, which will allow

traffic from Coweta County to take a beeline to the industrial park and

avoid the clogged intersection of Hwys. 54 and 74 less than a half-mile

away.

John Wieland Homes, the developer

of the Centennial subdivision off MacDuff Parkway, has pledged to extend

the turn lane that routes traffic off Hwy. 54 onto Huddleston.

According to the TIP, officials

expect the $8.28 million widening of Hwy. 54 to be complete by 2005, along

with the widening of the bridge over Line Creek that connects Fayette

and Coweta counties. That bridge, with an estimated cost of $851,000,

is also due to be finished by 2005.

Although the project to widen

the railroad bridge is unfunded and technically listed with a completion

date of 2010, it could possibly be put on the region's 2003-2005 Transportation

Improvement Plan, said William Mecke, director of communications for the

Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.

Construction of a through lane

on Hwy. 54 for westbound traffic has already started, compliments of the

developers who are building the Wal-Mart and Home Depot shopping center

in the area. City officials signed off on the improvements after indications

they would help both projects meet the city's traffic impact ordinance.

Back

to News Home Page |