11/22: T-SPLOST project list
Moderated by Tom Sabulis
Some say metro Atlanta’s transportation roundtable didn’t do the region any favors with the project list it devised for next year’s special purpose local option sales tax:
One national expert says these fixes won’t do enough to reduce commute times.
But two respected community leaders insist the T-SPLOST is a necessity and that voters should approve it for our collective future.
What do you think?
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
25 comments Add your comment
Bryan -- MARTA supporter
November 22nd, 2011
1:32 pm
If this doesn’t pass I said lets buckle down Fulton and Dekalb and truly support MARTA. I will admit in the pass there has been mismanagment within MARTA’s top staff but Dr. Scott has done a great job with declining resourse every year. I say lets do another one percent tax. I know …. I know…. another tax. But think if MARTA had another $150 to 200 million a year, JUST for expansion? That is 2 new miles of rail service every year. Or maybe just one new station and new bus routes or increased frequencies on others. More BRT routes where rail may not work. An increase in their savings that MARTA is close to depleting. This would eventually even lead to fares going DOWN!
It’s not a quick fix but over 10 years that is a lot of money generated and a lot for expansion. This could even be more money once the economy improves. At one time the tax was bringing in over 270 million a year. There is always going to be some money for road because of the state color…. RED! If the folks in Gwinnett and Cobb want to keep the same options and build and widen roads then let them. They will be stuck in traffic trying to push 700 and 800 thousand folks into Atlanta down 2 interstates. Let them see how an extended heavy rail system, along with BRT and a street car network and beefed up local buses move people within Fulton and Dekalb.
Then they can have the choice of continuing to fight traffic daily or join MARTA and have some alternatives. ClayCo is aboard but just needs to make it official. They can also get great transit. Let Cobb and Gwinnett pay to park in the outer stations. Yes I’m for making people who aren’t paying for MARTA through the tax pay to park and ride.
Imagine new rail to Alpharetta, Emory, and Cumberland (yeah I know it’s in Cobb but the area does need rail). Then west to Fulton Ind. Blvd, north on the Green line to Huff Rd and east from Avondale through Clarkston to Stone Mtn. The Turner Field line then east down I-20 to Lithonia. Even the Hapeville line, and if ClayCo joins south to Jonesboro. Even the I-285 line from Doraville to Cumberland. Include that with the Beltline rail for local rail transit and the N/S streetcar line, and BRT through other major cooridors.
That would be a great MARTA. Hey even some 24 hour service!
Bryan -- MARTA supporter
November 22nd, 2011
1:05 pm
I’m sad to say this probably isn’t going to pass. But right now it is our only choice to improve some things in the area. It’s far….. FAR from perfect but it does cover a lot. Cobb didn’t want rail so now they are stuck with premium bus service, which stats will show more non transit riders will choose to use rail service over any kind of bus service.
A lot of the transit projects are ones we should have already in place, but due to the lack of vision by locals in the other big 3 counties (Cobb, Gwinnett, and ClayCo). Now we are trying to add services that should have been in place and the people that voted them down are still saying no because they are old and don’t have anywhere to go in the first place. If I was retired I’d probably just relax in my home too. Traffic and transit isn’t an issue for them so why would they pay more? That is backwards thinking and not caring about the youth and kids coming up but hey, they won’t be here in another 20-30 years so why care about improving Atlanta for the future?
LetLogicPrevail
November 22nd, 2011
1:04 pm
Two points:
1. This is exactly what Obama’s jobs bill would have covered – transportation infrastructure projects (and rebuilding schools, which was just approved as part of another SPLOST). Obama’s plan would have been funded by a penny tax on MILLIONAIRES, but was rejected by republicans, including those from GA. So it is not ok for milliionaires to pay a penny tax, but it is ok for lower and middle classes to pay a penny tax?
2. Taxes are supposed to pay for things like education, transportation, police, fire fighters, etc. We already pay 7% sales tax in Atlanta in addition to state and local taxes. Where is that money going?
Roekest
November 22nd, 2011
1:04 pm
I’ve always advocated that we clone Gen. Sherman, have him burn the metro area down again, and then we’ll start over.
Brain
November 22nd, 2011
12:51 pm
The opposition to this is staggeringly stupid. I no longer live in Atlanta, but if I did the major fault I would find with this is that it does too little over entirely too long a period of time and would advocate for a LARGER TAX and substantially more infrastructure projects attached.
I won’t even bother to catalogue and then rebut the oppositions’ arguments. They’ve been proven time and again to be baseless.
What I will ask are two questions:
1) With absolutely zero confidence in the electorate to unify behind pragmatic, compromised solutions to real problems facing the region, what corporation would decide to move to Atlanta (or start a business there)? With a real reckoning coming with regard to regional water supplies and education reform, who has any confidence that the region can align behind a set of common goals to solve those real and crippling problems?
2) With the horrid state of education in GA, what do y’all believe the middle class jobs of the future are? Just about every one the “middle class” jobs represented in GA is in danger of being outsourced to Bangalore or Guadalajara……Construction cannot be outsourced, though. Think of the jobs these projects will create directly and what the indirect impact will be when companies, retailers and homeowners build near these new projects….And then ask yourself, “why isn’t making 316 limited access and dropping a rail in the median on here!?”, etc.
Josh
November 22nd, 2011
12:32 pm
There aren’t enough transit riders to vote for this enormous subsidy to transit. It won’t pass. I wish it would, but use common sense.
Mike
November 22nd, 2011
11:11 am
“VOTE NO UNLESS THE MARTA, THE BELTLINE AND OTHER MASS TRANSIT WASTED MONEY RAIL PROJECTS ARE REMOVED!! THEY DO NOTHING TO RELIEVE TRAFFIC! THEY ONLY REDISTRIBUTE MONEY TO LOW INCOME AND MINORITY GROUPS!!!!”
You are a first class idiot.
resno2
November 22nd, 2011
11:05 am
wow, that’s a lot of projects in Gwinnett County… I didn’t think any commissioners families had any land left.
zeke
November 22nd, 2011
10:56 am
VOTE NO UNLESS THE MARTA, THE BELTLINE AND OTHER MASS TRANSIT WASTED MONEY RAIL PROJECTS ARE REMOVED!! THEY DO NOTHING TO RELIEVE TRAFFIC! THEY ONLY REDISTRIBUTE MONEY TO LOW INCOME AND MINORITY GROUPS!!!!
Where's the Rail?
November 22nd, 2011
10:13 am
Wendell Cox would build a highway through the heart of downtown Manhattan if they’d let him. In all seriousness, if you build more highways then more people will drive on those highways (think if you build it, they will come). Atlanta would have to build a tremendous amount ($$$$) of new lanes and roadways in order to reduce its travel times and demolish a lot of businesses and communities in the process. If any North Fulton or East Cobb resident would like to sign up to build Wendell’s new highway through their neighborhood to reduce travel times, please let us know.