It may be hard to picture Interstate 985 as six lanes or South Enota Drive as a four-lane road.
But the 2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan gives that sort of glance into Hall County's potential future.

Hall County officials want to hear the public's take on area projects, including current projects that are closer to seeing dirt turned and replaced by asphalt.

"We're looking forward to hearing from concerned citizens," said Srikanth Yamala, transportation planning manager for the Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning Organization, which developed the plan.

A public hearing set for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville is one of the steps toward the plans' completion by August.

Federal requirements state that all metropolitan areas with more than 50,000 residents, such as Gainesville-Hall, develop and maintain such a plan.

Yamala said he hopes to hear from residents on such topics as new roadway projects, prioritizing existing projects, travel patterns and improvements in bicycle/pedestrian paths and public transportation.

"We do have certain maps and graphics to show how the traffic is anticipated to be in 2040 if we have just the current infrastructure — in other words, no improvements whatsoever to existing roadways," he said.

By comparison, officials will show graphically how conditions could be if certain improvements are made.

The event starts with an "open house" where people can look at maps and other graphics and write comments on flip charts.

A formal presentation by consultant Jeff Carroll of South Carolina-based Wilbur Smith Associates is set to begin at 6 p.m., lasting 15-20 minutes, followed by a question-and-answer session.

"We're expecting a good crowd," Yamala said.

Debbie Lawson Davis, who headed up an effort by the Lake Lanier Community Preservation Association to put the brakes on a conceptual route for the "Northern Connector" in 2009, has been watching with interest the latest plans.

"We feel like everything is pretty much in line with adopting what the 2030 plan was, with a few additions," Davis said. "With the limitations on the budget that they've got, there aren't any big surprises."

The Northern Connector, connecting Ga. 60/Thompson Bridge Road to Ga. 365, is in the 2040 plan as part of the 2031-2040 tier, but there have been no new specifics related to potential routes.

"I think everybody is in agreement that we need to take some action to relieve traffic congestion ... and there should be some kind of connection between the major thoroughfares," Davis said.

"But the possibility (officials) had raised before that we were so opposed to ... was the five bridges (across Lake Lanier) concept," she added.

The MPO, now operating with the 2030 Long-Range Transportation Plan, which was adopted in August 2007, needs to submit the updated project list to the Atlanta Regional Commission by April 4.

Hall is part of the commission's 20-county nonattainment area concerning federal air quality standards.

Many of the 2040 plan's projects shouldn't come as a major surprise to transportation watchers.

"We have been talking (about them) for years and years," Yamala said.

Commonly touted improvements include the widening of Spout Springs Road in South Hall from two to four lanes and a four-lane connection from the Sardis Road area to Thompson Bridge Road.

If anything, projects in the 2030 plan are getting pushed back.

For example, Ga. 13/Atlanta Highway widening was in the 2030 plan and now is in the proposed tier of 2031-40 projects.

"The primary issue is, obviously, funding, or lack of it," Yamala said.