Plans for the extension of

TDK Boulevard across Line Creek and into Coweta County are "90 percent

complete" but have sat unfinished since late March because of a disagreement

between Fayette County and Peachtree City over who should pay for engineering

cost overruns.

Construction of the road as

proposed would require the blasting of rock from Line Creek, a prospect

that could cost the county an additional $180,000 but could be avoided

altogether if the design of the bridge is elevated.

But redesigning the bridge

at this stage, city engineer Troy Besseche said, will cost an additional

$63,000, an amount the city has said it simply cannot afford and will

not pay, even though a Feb. 9 financial agreement to build the road required

that the city pay all engineering costs and the county governments share

in the construction costs.

"The county will have

saved $180,000 by having the city pay an additional $63,000," said

Besseche, who estimated Peachtree City has already shelled out in excess

of $300,000 on the project.

The county asked the city to

look into redesigning the bridge so the approaches on both sides are higher,

and thus clear the rock below, Besseche said.

"We told them what the

cost change was, but they said they weren't paying that."

While each side waited for

the other to blink, the drawings have been gathering dust in the engineering

department at Peachtree City Hall for nearly two months. Coweta County

engineers, meanwhile, continue with right-of-way and easement work on

its side of Line Creek, Besseche said.

So far, the debate over who

should ante up has not gone higher than the staff level, said Colin Halterman,

who on Monday returned to his job as head of the city's public services

department after an eight-month stint as acting city manager.

But the question of whether

or not the city should or can pay the $63,000 will likely be on the June

5 City Council agenda, he said.

The delay is a sticky issue

for some members of the business community, who see the Coweta-Fayette

link as vital to bringing any new businesses into the industrial park.

Many of Peachtree City's industrial workers live in Coweta, and traffic

conditions on Ga. Highway 54 at rush hour are near gridlock now.

TDK Boulevard proponents are

also eager to have that route open and new commuter habits established

before work is completed on widening Hwy. 54, which is still about two

to three years off.

Some have accused Mayor Steve

Brown of stalling the project. In a letter to County Commission Chairman

Greg Dunn dated April 28, Brown says that the final plans for the road

"will meet the criteria of our agreement. It must be noted that should

you wish to make changes or amend those plans for any reason, it will

be at your expense."

Brown has butted heads with

the Chamber of Commerce and the Peachtree City Development Authority in

recent months and was perceived as an opponent of the extension in the

early going. But city staff say he has no greater role in the present

stalemate.

"Not true," said

new City Manager Bernard J. McMullen. Besseche said the financial haggling

is what's holding up the road, plain and simple, and not "one person

... We're trying to do it in a way that it won't waste city funds,"

he said.

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