Commuters in north Fulton got a lift Monday when Alpharetta opened the final leg of Westside Parkway, a north-south passage running parallel to Ga. 400.
Transportation officials say they hope the new $4.2 million four-lane will take 30,000 vehicles a day off Ga. 400 and Ga. 9, routes already clogged with rush hour traffic.
"It's a good move," said Hal Davies, a retired Alpharettan who frequents church in Roswell. "For all of us here, it will relieve some of the traffic through our downtown."
The parkway runs from from Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell north into Milton and Forsyth County. It has longer green lights to give travelers preference over side-street traffic, said Pete Sewczwics, Alpharetta public works director.
"It's going to take some time, some education to get commuters to take Westside," Sewczwics said.
That's likely because commuters have endured a series of frustrations over the route since the final, one-mile leg was proposed seven years ago. Until then, Westside Parkway ended at Old Milton Parkway, then resumed one mile north at Webb Bridge Road.
Chris Scruggs, who works and lives in Alpharetta, is on board.
"I've been here for five years, and I've been waiting for this," he said.
Scruggs said he now takes Ga. 400 to run errands and get to work, but that will change.
"This is going to make a big difference," he said.
Not everybody is as adventurous.
Sable Wells, who works at Dress Up Boutique on Windward Parkway, said she will probably continue taking Ga. 400 on her commute from Haynes Bridge Road, a few miles to the south.
"It usually only takes me five minutes on 400," she said, "but I might try it sometimes."
Business owners in downtown Alpharetta hope the route will reduce through traffic on Ga. 9, the city's Main Street.
City traffic engineer Eric Graves said he expects Westside will eventually siphon off about 10 percent of the traffic downtown.
"I have a business on Main Street, and I do experience an unusual amount of backup," said Alyx Korner, owner of Alex N Sis, a children's boutique. "It deters the traffic coming into my business. I only see good things from the opening of this major throughway."
Monday's opening, attended by area officials, marks the end of years of frustration for the city. The project was begun in earnest five years ago, when developer Stan Thomas cleared the property for his Prospect Park, an upscale mixed-use dream that fell into Chapter 11 two years later. Before the curtain fell, however, Thomas had laid the roadbed. All that was needed was a few guardrails and some striping.
Late last year, North American Properties bought the site with plans to develop it into a scaled-down version Thomas's project .
The city completed all acquisition rights last November, agreeing to negotiate impact fee credits with North American as compensation for the roadway. It also paid the original developer $3.2 million for a 10-acre tract along the roadway that was not part of the Prospect Park development.
The North Fulton Community Improvement District pitched in $789,000 and the Georgia DOT added about$800,000 to complete the project.
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