Marietta Square – Whitlock Avenue – WhitlockAvenue.com

Here is some interesting traffic news – what does everyone think?

By CHRISTIAN BOONE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 08/24/06

The road to fruition for the Powder Springs connector will likely be as slow as rush-hour traffic.

Now that the Marietta City Council has voted to place the road on undeveloped land just east of Brownstone Square townhomes, the Atlanta Regional Commission will study the proposed site before forwarding its input to the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, said county spokesman Robert Quigley.

“It’s not coming in front of the commission anytime soon,” said Quigley. He estimated it would be next year before public hearings are held on the connector.

After that, the Georgia Department of Transportation will receive the final proposal.

There’s no guarantee either body will follow Marietta’s recommendation.

Two weeks ago, the Marietta City Council voted 5-0, with abstentions by Annette Lewis and Anthony Coleman, to approve the connector, which would link to an expanded South Cobb Drive.

The previous council had voted to place the connector across the street from Chestnut Hill Road, the main entrance to Whitlock Heights. But opposition left the city scrambling for a new alternative.

The Brownstone Square option was formulated just over a month ago and received the broad consensus Mayor Bill Dunaway was seeking. He said in a recent interview, however, that there are “problems with all of them. None of them are slam dunks.”

The biggest problem with the Brownstone Square site might be price, as the route is longer. It’s too early to tell if that will sway DOT’s decision, but Dunaway was encouraged by the City Council’s vote.

“The more unanimity we have here, the more unanimity the Cobb Commission has, the more the DOT will pay attention to us,” he said. “They’ve got limited dollars chasing a lot of projects. They want to spend those dollars where they can be heroes, not where there’s controversy.”

Construction on the $15 million connector is not set to begin until 2021 at the earliest.

The city and county will request that the project be moved up, with right-of-way acquisition beginning in 2008 and construction in 2010.