The majority of Henry Commission leaders on Tuesday agreed on a transportation project list they hope will persuade residents to pass a $245 million TSPLOST referendum this fall.
Road widenings make up the majority of the list, including expansions for Ga. 81, Bill Gardner Parkway, Jonesboro Road and Mill Road. Some funds will be used to resurface and repair neighborhood and subdivision streets and sidewalks.
“We have failing infrastructure system that we’ve got to do something about,” County Manager Cheri Hobson-Matthews said.
The TSPLOST planning comes as Henry, metro Atlanta’s second-fastest growing community, struggles to match the pace of its infrastructure improvements with that of its residential boom. Once a rural county with about 36,000 residents in the 1980s, Henry has grown into a suburban stronghold with a population of about 244,000 people today.
That has brought with it potholes, congested two-lane thoroughfares and a rush-hour crunch of brake lights, accidents and exhausted commuters.
Commissioner Bruce Holmes, who represents north Henry County, said he was disappointed that few of the roads in his district made the list and that he may campaign against the TSPLOST if funding isn’t more evenly distributed.
“Everybody in the county is paying equally into SPLOST and the objective is to get everybody on board to vote for SPLOST,” Holmes said. “But if you only have the $10- to $14 million allocated for sidewalks on the north side of the county, I can’t see anyone on the north side of the county supporting this referendum, including myself.”
Matthews said the project list reflects streets most used by residents and was not meant to slight the county’s northern end.
If voters approve the TSPLOST, sales taxes will rise from 7 cents on the dollar to 8 cents.
The next step is for the county’s four cities — Stockbridge, Hampton, Locust Grove and McDonough — to sign off on the deal through an intergovernmental agreement. That agreement, if reached, will be signed July 7, Matthews said.
