People For a Better Athens, one of the groups that formed last year to fight a proposed downtown Walmart, is throwing a party at Ted's Most Best, where they first organized, at 7 p.m. tonight to celebrate their victory now that Selig Enterprises has drastically scaled back the development.

If you're somebody who cares about downtown, before you head over there, stop by the Athens-Clarke Planning Department at 5:30 p.m. to learn about some upcoming SPLOST infrastructure projects.

Or, at the same time, you could head out to ACC Streets and Drainage on Spring Valley Road, where state Department of Transportation officials will discuss changes to the Oconee Street-Loop interchange that should improve traffic there. Here's the press release:

The Georgia Department of Transportation seeks your input to improve access at the State Route 10 Loop, US 78/SR 10 and Barnett Shoals Road. Georgia DOT is hosting a public information open house meeting on the proposed changes.

The proposed plan would add a SR 10 Loop northbound entrance ramp to tie in at the Barnett Shoals and US 78/SR 10/Lexington road intersection. The project will construct auxiliary lanes and intersection improvements along US 78/SR 10/Lexington Road beginning construction at the Oconee Street/Oak Street intersection and ending construction just east of Winterville Road for an approximate project length of 0.6 mile. The existing northbound exit ramp and entrance ramp will remain in place in the southeast quadrant. The proposed configuration for the entrance ramps will remove the Lexington westbound to SR 10 Loop NB left turn movement that causes significant delay on Lexington road.

The Open House is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, December 13 at the Athens Clarke County Streets and Drainage Office located at 605 Spring Valley Road in Athens. Georgia DOT Engineers and consultants will be available to discuss the proposal. There will not be a formal presentation during the open house.

Anyone unable to attend the public information open house may send comments on the project to Glenn Bowman, State Environmental Administrator – Georgia DOT, 600 West Peachtree Street, 16th Floor, Atlanta, Georgia 30308. All comments will be considered in the development of the final project design and must be received by January 2, 2013.

After the open house meetings, plans and handouts can be viewed at the Georgia DOT District Office located at 2505 Athens Highway in Gainesville or at the Georgia DOT Area Office located at 450 Old Hull Road in Athens. Project information will be available on the DOT website after the open house meetings at www.dot.ga.gov. On the home page choose “Information Center” then Public Outreach” and select the project’s county and choose “Go.” A list of active DOT projects in that county will appear. Select the project to view.