The following as seen from the City of Villa Rica’s Facebook page:
Punkintown Road is an old country road that has been re-paved repeatedly over the years. It doesn’t have an adequate foundation for the traffic it handles, and the travel lanes are too narrow. In many places, there are deep ruts alongside the pavement because the re-paved roadbed is higher than the shoulder.
The city is aware of these conditions and knows that the road needs more than simple repaving. Unfortunately, a complete rebuild requires a significant amount of planning and that takes time. Therefore, while an engineering firm designs the reconstruction, and our land agent acquires right-of-way, the city is moving ahead with plans to resurface the worst parts of the road to buy some time. City Council recently approved almost $90,000 for that purpose.
At the same time, the city will be rebuilding the traffic light and intersection at Shoreline Parkway to facilitate a new mixed-use development on the west side of Punkintown. Jeff Fuqua is currently grading the site and will begin construction on the retail portion of the project later this year. The commercial component will be anchored by a 60,000-square-foot grocery store and include 15,000 square feet of adjacent retail space and another 15,000 square feet of outparcels. Most of these retailers will be familiar names. Fuqua will announce this lineup soon, perhaps as early as next month.
