The ongoing political spat amongst the Henry County Board of Commissioners regarding the proposed new I-75 interchange in the southern half of the county has frustrated more than a few people.

  Count the Locust Grove City Council as part of that group.

  The council voted unanimously at its Oct. 7 regular meeting to approve a resolution in support of what it called the “I-75 Industrial Interchange” just south of the Bethlehem Road overpass and to request support from the Georgia Department of Transportation for its continuation, calling it “a crucial part of the Major Mobility Investment Program in the Commercial Vehicle Lanes project.”

  According to a city staff report, officials are “working currently with the state in getting a firm commitment in the advancement of the project and assistance with other projects that may be required as we commit to funding of the necessary steps to get this to construction.”

  In a separate conversation with the Times the day after the council meeting, city manager Tim Young did not mince words when describing how the new roadway could help Locust Grove tremendously but was being held up by a few elected officials who were going against the wishes of voters.

  “The main thing for us has always been that we were supportive of another interchange regardless of location whether it’s here or north of us in McDonough or wherever,” he said. “It would be a reliever for our existing interchange, especially from trucks.”

  The interchange at Bill Gardner Parkway, which feeds directly into Locust Grove, was not designed for trucks, according to Young, but the new one would be.

  The last time the issue came before the commissioners was in a mid-September meeting during which the vote on the 2019 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) list was stalled by a 3-3 tie. Voting against it were Dee Clemmons, Bruce Holmes and Vivian Thomas. All three expressed their concern about the potential for increased truck traffic from the new interchange, as well as the desire to spend the money allocated for its design elsewhere.

  “You have three who are up there doing the will of the people, and three who are not,” said Young.

  The problem with their refusal to act is that certain expenditures related to the project were part of the SPLOST IV program which was approved by voters several years ago. Young charged that the citizens made clear their wishes regarding the project by their votes at that time, and the dissenting commissioners are in direct conflict to that.

  “When we’re stuck in this deadlocked position on the Board of Commissioners, where they will not live up to the voters’ wish of at least going through the process of getting the interchange defined and into a funding system, we have to take action,” he said. “The last straw was when they wouldn’t put it on the TIP. We [the city] can’t wait any longer.”

  According to Young, an intergovernmental agreement regarding the project has two key requirements: an environmental study and placement on a TIP. The commissioners as a whole have refused to fund the former or follow through on the latter.

  Locust Grove officials have directed their land use planning and development patterns in recent years based, in part on the fact that development of a new interchange would at least be attempted, Young said, and it became even more likely in their eyes once the last SPLOST was passed.

  “There is money available. There is not a shortage of funding,” he said, referring to SPLOST revenue. “You have to follow through until it is proven infeasible to build it using SPLOST, and they are nowhere close to that point.”

  The city’s leadership will now be looking at whatever avenue is available for making it happen.

  “We are working with the Atlanta Regional Commission and the state right now to see what our options are,” said Young. “We are leaving no rock unturned to get this project moving forward the way the voters intended for it to go.”