The Fayette County Commission has voted to pursue federal and state funds to revive a road project that had appeared to hit a financial dead end.
The county's engineer, Phil Mallon, told commissioners Thursday that possible funding for the popular east bypass of Fayetteville, projected to cost $70 million, has been identified.
"This is a high-priority project that may be funded with federal aid and state SPLOST [Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax] money," he told the commissioners during their regular board meeting.
The board also voted to approve right-of-way changes that would allow the route to one day be four lanes instead of two.
The east bypass is one of two that have been in planning stages for years to alleviate traffic congestion around Fayetteville. The other proposed bypass, which supporters say would cost about half as much as the eastern proposal, would follow a western route.
The projects have divided the county and the board, with three commissioners voting to continue building the cheaper west corridor over the repeated objections of residents and Commissioners Steve Brown and Allen McCarty. Brown and McCarty say the east bypass appears to direct traffic through the county in a way that makes more sense than the western route.
Angry residents have packed recent board meetings to make sure commissioners know how they feel about the west bypass. Sometimes those public speeches turn to 2012, when Chairman Herb Frady and Commissioners Robert Horgan and Lee Hearn are up for re-election.
"We have the right to say we'll peacefully vote you out at the next election," said David Hall of Peachtree City. "We are the people, we are the authority. How badly do you value the bypass? Is it worth all the crying that would result from the bypass? I would say not."
His comments were applauded by the audience, prompting Frady to admonish residents and ask for respect for the board. He reminded them that they haven't always been able to speak during commission meetings.
Hall fired back.
"Your attempts to silence the clapping is intimidating," he said. "You're trying to intimidate us by saying we used to not be able to speak like it might be taken away from us. Your authority comes from the people."
Frady said after the meeting that both bypasses will be built if the money doesn't run out.
"It's been in the plans the whole time to do both bypasses," Frady said. "We had to stop the east bypass because we ran out of money. We've only recently, and I mean just recently, been told there might be money available. We're trying to squeeze in to get that road built."
Frady added: "We had to make a choice to pick one or the other. I didn't want to build half of two roads, so the west was picked over the east as a priority years ago."
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