Tag Archives: wish list

Working Weekend for the Roundtable

13 Aug

Having missed the original deadline set to nip and tuck the transportation “wish list” down to size, the Atlanta Regional Roundtable’s executive committee will work for the next three days to finalize the list by Monday afternoon.

The executive committee’s voting members are B.J. Mathis of the Henry County Commission, Tom Worthan of the Douglas County Commission, Mayor Bill Floyd of Decatur, Mayor Mark Mathews of Kennesaw and Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta. Mayor Bucky Johnson of Norcross is the group’s chairman.

As it stands, the 119-item list contains about $6.6 billion in transportation projects – $420 million more than the proposed one-percent regional sales tax is expected to generate during the 10 years it would be in effect.

The legislation allowing a referendum on the transportation tax says that a draft list of projects must be completed by Aug. 15, but doesn’t specify what would happen if that deadline isn’t met. A final draft of the list is to be completed by Oct. 15 and the referendum will be put before voters next year. Legislators will decide during the upcoming special session whether to move the date for the referendum from July to November.

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Whittling Down the Wish List

4 Jun

Georgia DOT issued the latest version of the regional transportation wish list Thursday. The roster of prospective projects will be funded by the one-cent sales tax that comes up for a vote next summer.

State Transportation Planning Director Todd Long had the task of adding and subtracting projects from the original list, compiled in April. The new version will now go before the 21-member regional roundtable, whose members have to slice approximately $15 billion worth of projects from the list’s current total of $22.9 billion – a reduction of about 65 percent. The reductions will bring the projects’ price tag in line with the $8 billion that the transit tax is expected to generate in its 10-year lifespan.

Here’s a searchable database of the new wish list as well as an interactive map for locating projects in your area. Fact sheets for the projects on the updated list will be available here on June 9.

What’s on, what’s off ?

Afternoon commuters pass through the plaza at Five Points Station. The transportation tax would fund improvements like removing the non-functioning sign from the ceiling.

So far bus rapid transit for the portion of Piedmont Road between Roswell Road and Lindbergh Station is still on the list, as are funds for improvements to Five Points Station. Those improvements will include removing the mammoth yellow contraption – once a sign – hanging from the ceiling in the plaza, as well as fixing the skylights.

A circulator bus system for Fulton and DeKalb counties, on-board security cameras for all of MARTA’s bus, rail and paratransit vehicles, and and set-up of a distance-based rail fare system are also still included.

An extension of the Silver Comet Trail from Cobb County to Centennial Olympic Park and an ad system for MARTA’s rail tunnels were both axed.

What’s next?

An Atlanta Regional Commission informational meeting will be held June 9, followed by a meeting of the executive committee for Atlanta’s regional roundtable. The executive committee meeting will be open for public input on the first round of changes to the wish list.

A “telephone town hall meeting” for Fulton County residents is scheduled or June 22.

Details are on the roundtable’s meeting page.

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Transportation Investment Inter(Act)ive

2 May

If you’re having trouble wrapping your head around the wheres and whats of the Atlanta Regional Roundtable’s transportation project “wish list,” or if you’d just like a quick, easy way to get more information on projects close to you, check this out:

The Roundtable has created an interactive map of all 437 projects that were submitted for funding. (Keep in mind that this list will be trimmed considerably during the next several months.) Just use the text, graphic or address function to specify an area and the map produces a list of proposed projects submitted for the area you highlighted. Alongside each item on that list is a link to its project submittal form. The project submittal form provides a description of the project as well as information about the purpose, submitting agency and cost and completion time estimates.

After you finish playing with the map, make sure to take the quick transportation priorities survey  here or here.

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