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Although Fayette County doesn't

have nearly the traffic congestion of its northside neighbors, the latest

county transportation plan shows nearly $400 million in projects to keep

the traffic snarls at a minimum over the next 20 years.

The county's political

leaders gathered last week to try and prioritize projects to submit to

the Atlanta Regional Commission for funding. Commission Chairman Greg

Dunn complimented the work of the URS Corporation, who compiled the hefty

document.

"We have done the planning

better than most counties in the region," he said.

Now that the plan has been

completed, Dunn said the elected officials needed to act in unison and

decide which were the most pressing projects for the county. Dunn, along

with Fayetteville Mayor Ken Steele and the county's public works

director, Lee Hearn, attend ARC meetings, and are well aware of the best

way to get the projects on the planning agency's radar.

As the elected officials mulled

over the details of the plan, Dunn explained the costs for all the upgrades

in 2003 dollars would be $266 million, but closer to $400 million by the

time all the projects are completed.

Include in the plan is 20 intersection

or traffic signal improvements, 28 road upgrades, 10 bridge projects and

seven street beautification projects.

The county commission chairman

asked the group to select at least a "top 3" list of priorities

for ARC to plug into their 2030 plan, and was hopeful the group could

decide on 10 projects.

Dunn had previously met with

the mayors and asked them to prioritize three projects. When the list

from all the jurisdictions were unveiled last week, there was a striking

similarity in the assessments.

Tyrone, Brooks, Fayetteville,

Woolsey and the county all selected the East Fayetteville Bypass as the

top priority. Peachtree City officials, led by Mayor Steve Brown, believed

the grade separation at the intersection of Georgia highways 54 and 74

should be the group's emphasis, followed by the Peachtree Parkway-Crosstown

Road intersection improvement and the widening of Hwy. 74 South from two

to four lanes.

"I know my constituents

would love to see at least one of the priorities in their jurisdiction,"

Brown said.

Dunn agreed Peachtree City's

three choices were important, but pointed out the lion's share of

transportation improvements in the county during the last few years were

in Peachtree City, including the impending improvements of TDK Boulevard

and the widening of Hwy. 54 to the Coweta County line.

But Brown said the bypass,

which officials estimate could cost $80 million, could siphon off money

from most of the other projects on the list.

"It's going to be

a financial strain on all of us," Brown added.

Steele maintained the group

needed to focus on the big dollar projects to send to ARC first, and then

perhaps slide the grade separation, which is going to cost about $3.5

million, as a later priority.

But Brown said the opening

of TDK Boulevard was just going to create more traffic problems for the

city, since developers in Coweta County were just waiting for the road

to be finished, and said the group needed to realize how fast eastern

Coweta County was growing.

But in the end, the group dismissed

Brown's choices for the top three and set their priorities as the

East Fayetteville Bypass, the West Fayetteville Bypass and the widening

of Ga. Highway 54 east to the Clayton County border. (See accompanying

top 10 list.)

Dunn closed the meeting by

saying the group would have to meet again, and discuss funding options,

but no date was set for the event.

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