Twenty years ago the Town Center area of Cobb was mostly fields and farms, along with a smattering of subdivisions. Today, it's a major retailing area, has its share of apartment dwellers, is in close proximity to a number of subdivisions and generally is one of the most congested areas of the county. Traffic funnels into the Town Center area from all points of the compass, and if it's headed east-west or vice-versa, must negotiate the bottlenecks at the relatively few crossings over or under Interstate 75 and 575.

But a measure of relief is on the way following last week's groundbreaking for the biggest phase of the long overdue Big Shanty Road Connector project.

The $26.2 million, four-lane affair is meant to provide relief for those traveling the Barrett Parkway and Chastain Road corridors.

The project has been 11 years in the making. Engineering costs were paid by the self-taxing Town Center Area Community Improvement District, with the rest of the project paid for by the county.

"Once our CID was formed in 1998, immediately we decided this was the first project we would study," said TCACID executive director Lanie Shipp. "It's taken a long time to do all of the engineering work, environmental assessments and break the project up into three phases while determining different funding sources, but things have finally come together," Shipp said.

The new road will branch off from Chastain Road west of I-75 and blaze a new trail eastward and under the interstate then over to just past I-575.

Phase 3 of the project was actually the first to begin and runs from Busbee Parkway to Chastain Meadows Parkway. It began in November and should be completed by year end.

Phase 1, the portion for which Tuesday's groundbreaking was held, will connect Barrett Lakes Boulevard and Busbee via an underpass beneath the Interstate. It is the longest, most expensive and challenging stretch of the new road and is to be funded via an $8 million federal grant.

Phase 2 will go from Chastain Road over to Barrett Lakes Boulevard. Ground is expected to be broken for that stretch sometime next year and be complete in late 2012.

For drivers in that part of Cobb, completion of the Big Shanty Connector can't come soon enough.

"We're all very, very excited about it, and there's always a challenge when you start a major project like this, but with the new sports facility going up at KSU and all that is going on in the area, it will be such an improvement and will do so much for the mobility of the area's residents," Shipp said.

There's no doubt about that.