With the south metro area growing at such rapid rates, many of the local highways will see a need for improvement to deal with the onslaught of traffic.

In July 2005 the Tri County Alliance formed to address access and mobility in Fayette, South Fulton and Coweta counties, according to a fact sheet. Several entities got together and signed The Congestion Relief Accord (an intergovernmental memorandum of understanding). They include Fulton and Coweta counties, Peachtree City, Tyrone, Fairburn, Union City, Senoia and the South Fulton Community Improvement District (CID).

According to Joddie Gray, South Fulton CID administrator, community improvement districts are self-taxing property owners that levy themselves to collect funds mostly for infrastructure improvements.

The focus project for the alliance is the Highway 74/Interstate 85 interchange. In order to get the Interchange Modification Report done, it costs $100,000. Most involved have already given funds towards the study: Peachtree City gave $5,000; Fayette County, $40,000; South Fulton CID, $25,000 and Fairburn gave $25,000 — there is only $5,000 left that they are hoping to get from some other entity.

The group was waiting on the Peachtree City Council to decide to give the last $10,000 but according to Betsy Tyler, public information officer for the city, they had some reservations.

“Council said they supported this but we’ve had some ongoing discussions with the county on the issue of double taxation,” said Ms. Tyler. “Peachtree City is a third of Fayette County so our residents were already kicking in a third of that $40,000.”

Ms. Tyler added that because South Fulton and Fairburn had contributed, they thought TCA could see if that last $5,000 might be contributed by some other members.

On the main reason for the study, Ms. Gray said, “…it’s just not a very well-designed interchange for the amount of congestion, and also we have a lot of truck traffic mixing with automobile traffic.”

After the study is complete, the next step would be working with the Georgia Department of Transportation, the counties and jurisdictions to get it funded in their regional transportation plan.

“I think this is the first comprehensive plan in the entire metro area,” said Ms. Gray. “It’s very rare that you will find a jurisdiction providing funding for a project that is not located within that jurisdiction. So this is very much to Fayette and the city of Peachtree City’s credit that their visionaries are looking at a regional issue.”