and By JOHN THOMPSON

[email protected]

Dirt may soon be moving on

the Coweta County side of the Coweta-Fayette Connector.

County officials announced

this week the receipt of a contract from the Georgia Department of Transportation

for $290,000 in materials for the road.

"Since we received this

contract, we'll be able to use some of our existing funds, for other

items, such as the bridge on the road," said County Administrator

Theron Gay.

The Coweta-Fayette Connector

(or TDK Boulevard, depending on which side of Line Creek that you call

home) has been a poiltical football for months. Earlier this year, the

Fayette County Commission and the Coweta County Commission signed off

on a deal that provides local funding for the road and allows it to be

built quicker.

Since the deal was signed,

officials have been eager to get the project moving, and the DOT contract

is a sign the road may soon be under construction.

"We are getting the final

plans and right-of-way documents completed. We don't anticipate anymore

delays," Gay said.

County Commissioner Vernon

"Mutt" Hunter was extremely pleased with the receipt of the

contract.

"I want to see this get

moving quickly," he said.

Meanwhile, Fayette County officials

have a date with the DOT next week, when they'll plead their own

case for state funds to get the road going on the Peachtree City side

of Line Creek.

Fayette Commission Chairman

Greg Dunn said recently that the county went straight to Pathway Communities,

the chief landowner at the site, and negotiated for the developer to donate

the four acres needed to complete the right of way, bypassing Peachtree

City and Mayor Steve Brown.

An earlier attempt to arrange

a swap of the four acres with some undeveloped park land owned by the

city went nowhere, with Brown refusing to let the city give up "precious

green space."

Brown has opposed the TDK extension,

saying the increased traffic will make worse the crowded situation on

two-lane Ga. Highway 74 South.

According to Lee Hearn, head

of the county road department, crews are ready to move in and start construction

on the Fayette County side when word comes that the pieces have fallen

into place.

"We're actually closer

than we've ever been," said Hearn on Monday, adding that Peachtree

City still has to wrap up survey work at the site just north of Falcon

Field Airport,"Before the land is in our hands and in our possession,

they are required to finish that survey," said Hearn.

Troy Besseche, head of engineering

for Peachtree City, confirmed that the final paperwork on the right of

way acquisition was in the hands of City Attorney Ted Meeker.

Meeker said Tuesday he was

in the process of getting the propterty owners to approve the contract.

Besseche said he'll proceed with the survey as soon as he gets the

all-clear from Meeker.

In the meantime, Dunn and other

Fayette officials hope to have the funds in place. There remains no estimated

completion date for the road.