MARIETTA, Ga. — The city of Marietta is one step closer to overhauling an accident prone stretch of road.
This week, the city council approved the purchase of a home along North Fairground Street.
With that purchase, construction should begin this summer and the entire project should be done within a year.
Bill Leslie picked his home along North Fairground Street for his dog daycare business for a reason; it's not along Cobb Parkway.
"Being one of the few roads that runs parallel to Cobb Parkway, people are always trying to avoid that chaos," Leslie said.
He, like many others who own property along the street, stands to lose some of his land with the redevelopment of North Fairground Street.
"We were told that we weren't going to be affected on this side, but the neighbors say we are going to lose about 6 feet… We are not thrilled, but I think we can live with that," Leslie said.
Leslie feels like that is a small price to pay if that means beautification of the roadway and a decreased risk of accidents.
Channel 2's Erica Byfield checked, and in 2006, there were 163 wrecks along North Fairground Street.
In 2007, there were 156 wrecks and in 2008, there were 144.
That averages out to about 150 a year.
Marietta's public works director told Byfield, "that is higher than we like to see."
To change that, the city bought the home at 383 North Fairground Street for a little more than $101,000.
The plan is to tear down the house so work crews can add a median with green space and sidewalks.
"I think it will be an outrageous amount of money to build it, but I think it will improve the area," neighbor Dan Lonberg said.
A bit further down the road the project is calling for a roundabout near Allgood Road.
Residents have said they are ready for the change.
WSBTV
