MTO: Kulash won't consult on Houston Road project

The city-county roads program's executive committee decided Wednesday to reject its technical advisory committee's request that consultant Walter Kulash review the Houston Road project.

Walter Kulash

Bibb County Commission chairman Larry Justice, who also chairs the roads program's executive committee, said including Kulash in the Houston Road redesign would not meet time constraints and could jeopardize state and federal funding.

CAUTION Macon members said Wednesday's vote will force them to move to stop the project in court.

The executive committee voted 3-1 to keep "neighborhood-friendly" traffic engineer Kulash off the Houston Road widening. Instead, he will be asked to study a potential connector from Interstate 75 to Ga. 247.

Macon Mayor Jim Marshall was the lone vote against rejecting Kulash, offering a substitute motion that may have appeased opponents of the Houston project. Frank Pinkston, a member of the state Department of Transportation's board, was absent from Wednesday's meeting.

Marshall asked to have Kulash study land-use issues involved in the project while continuing with the original road design.

"He may offer us some insight that we haven't thought of," Marshall said. "I'm willing to go ahead with that (as long as) the project is not going to be stopped."

Road foes supported Marshall's proposal, saying it gave Kulash a chance to look at the project, which the committee has rejected in the past after similar requests.

"(Marshall's suggestion) would go further to extend the credibility of the road program," CAUTION Macon member Dan Fischer said before the vote.

Justice and Tom Moreland of Moreland Altobelli said they were afraid Kulash would take too much time to study the Houston Road project, delaying its scheduled Sept. 30 starting date. Under Georgia Regional Transportation Authority rules that take effect July 1, any project not ready by its scheduled construction date could lose funding.

Moreland Altobelli originally planned to start the project in May, but preservation concerns raised by the state's historic preservation division created a delay.

CAUTION Macon members said the time constraints could have been avoided if Kulash had been put on the project in January, when that was first requested.

The technical advisory committee, at the request of city engineer Bill Causey, voted during its June 10 meeting to ask Kulash to review the project.

County engineer Bob Fountain said Wednesday he didn't vote on the motion, which came at the end of the meeting.

"Had I voted, I would have voted against it," Fountain said during the executive committee meeting. He said after Wednesday's meeting that he didn't vote because a majority had already voted to pass the motion.

Justice lashed out at technical advisory committee members, warning them not to raise the Houston Road issue again.

CAUTION Macon members said they will proceed with their lawsuit to stop federal funding for the Houston Road project.

"We're ready to file a lawsuit today," said member Lee Martin after the meeting.

CAUTION Macon's lawsuit contends that the state did not conduct a comprehensive environmental impact study for the entire city-county roads program. It also says that historic preservation issues were not fully mediated.

County roads program attorney Hale Almond said Wednesday that any lawsuit would probably be decided quickly because of the state's time-frame for the project. Simply filing a lawsuit will not be enough to stop the project, he said.