Transportation Road Show Pulls into Poncey Highland

Atlanta Regional Commission Senior Principal Planner John Orr spoke to Poncey-Highland residents Wednesday night about the projects covered by the 10-year, $8.5 billion transportation sales tax referendum vote set for July.

Orr said the 10-county Atlanta region, one of 12 regions in Georgia, will grow by about the size of the state of Arkansas in population by 2040.

Challenging growth is a dearth of transportation financing from deteriorated motor fuel tax revenues and Georgia’s 48th lowest transportation tax in the nation, he said.

In 2010, with passage of the Transportation Investment Act, he said the ARC was authorized to form a 21-member roundtable and develop a project list for the 1-percent sales tax for the years 2013-2022 or until the $8.5 billion is raised.

The $8.5 billion will be divided into $7.2 billion on a regional project list. Local communities will divide the remaining 15%. Atlanta’s part is expected to be $95 to $100 million, Orr said.

"It cannot be renewed unless there is a vote to extend. It’s totally different from Ga. 400," Orr said, when audience members asked about the pitfalls of this new tax.

Orr also described some of the projects and how they differ from other projects already planned and funded.

The 157-project list includes many items that will affect transportation and traffic in the inner city.

Improvements at three of the state’s worst major interstate bottlenecks — Spaghetti Junction, I-285 in Cobb County and I-20 and I-285 on the Westside — will be addressed.

Clifton Corridor rail service will be built, along with bus service to Clayton and south DeKalb, which is also slated for a federally funded rail study for the heavily utilized MARTA service area.

But for intowners, what matters most are sidewalks and bike lanes, synchronized streetlights and street repairs. Detailed projects map are available online.

Atlanta has “absolutely critical” routes in need of repair upgrade and maintenance, Orr said. “By 2040, ARC estimates about $9 billion will be seen in saved time and fuel for the people,” he said.

Orr said the biggest changes will come in the realization of “the core of the city planners’ major strategy:” Improving Atlantans’ travel options.

The Beltline is going to be transformative, he promised, crediting Atlanta for being a leader in identifying projects.

In addition to the Beltline, Atlanta will continue to work to interconnect and launch light-rail corridors so that, “people can park their cars, then go where they want to go,” Orr said. Part of the system will be the Beltline, which will be bisected, more or less, with an additional light-rail line, as well as the Centennial Olympic Park-Sweet Auburn line, which will run through Georgia State.

Roadway changes will include streetlights, bike paths, traffic circles, sidewalks and road repairs. Poncey-Highland has a master plan, the neighborhood leaders said. Of greatest concern were traffic calming on North Avenue and on Freedom Parkway to Highland.

One person asked about commuter rail. Orr said Atlanta is “not there yet,” and a downtown train station was nixed by the General Assembly last year.

The only commuter rail project now proposed is a high-level study for service from Griffin to Atlanta, he said.

While Orr opened and closed his presentation with a political disclaimer that he was not there to endorse T-SPLOST but to inform the voters about ARC’s findings, he said it will be a setback for Atlanta if T-SPLOST doesn’t pass and that the projects on the list will have to be done and that, by funding it, Atlanta will be able to “catch up.”

Orr assured the audience that the taxed projects have stopgaps to prevent them from going over budget by accounting for inflation and contingencies.

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