The chain-reaction collisions on the I-75 corridor
I have rolled up and down I-75 for most of my adult life. From Kennesaw to Atlanta and back, 60 miles each day. I’ve lost tires to shrapnel tossed by big rigs, spun 360s on patches of ice, and navigated past the occasional Friday night drunk.
But what frightens the hard-core commuter more than anything else is the sudden tableau of red brake lights, smoking tires, and the raised rear-end of a car chassis rushing toward him. One panicked stop leads to another and another and another.
Airbags explode, and everything grinds to a halt.
A slow-motion version of that chain reaction, as disturbing as any that ever shut down my northwest passage, is unfolding in the state Capitol.
Last month, Gov. Nathan Deal abruptly cancelled a $1 billion, public-private venture to install reversible toll lanes alongside I-75 and I-575 – the first major overhaul to promise relief for myself and an estimated 199,999 other daily commuters.
In exchange for the private funding, under terms negotiated before Deal took office, the state would have had to agree to limit the construction of new roads in the corridor for 60 to 70 years. In his State of the State address earlier this month, Deal said he was loath to sign away “Georgia’s sovereignty” over such an important traffic corridor.
But the governor promised, in that same speech, that he was looking for another way to finance the project.
That hasn’t been enough for some. One month after the governor tapped the brakes on that I-75 project, Tim Lee, chairman of the Cobb County Commission, tapped the brakes on another.
In a Capitol press conference, flanked by two state senators representing Cobb, Lee last week proposed that the sidelined reversible lane project be added to the list of improvements that would be paid for by a 10-year, penny sales tax – if metro Atlanta voters approve the levy on July 31.
In exchange, Lee – and Kennesaw Mayor Mark Mathews — recommended that Project No. 35 on a list of 157 be sacrificed. Project No. 35 is a rapid bus transit line that would operate between Atlanta and Acworth – and contains the first promise, however faint, of a rail line outside Fulton and DeKalb counties.
Lee and Mathews were on the roundtable of metro Atlanta political leaders who hammered out the list. Their proposal to “sacrifice” the first expansion of commuter rail in metro Atlanta this century is a measure of how hot the topic remains in Cobb. It is no secret that Lee is up for re-election – his future and that of the sales tax for transportation will be settled on the same day.
There are serious problems with Lee’s idea. First, changing the list would require an act of the Legislature. The same bill needed to “fine tune” Cobb’s list of projects might rapidly expand to include adjustments in other corners of the state – a can of worms if ever there was one.
Also keep in mind that tea partyers oppose the sales tax, and have friends in the Capitol. And many a piece of legislation has been helped to death.
If, by some chance, Lee’s argument prevails, then we have another problem. Voters would be asked to levy a penny sales tax on themselves, for a road that would then require a toll each time it was used.
“If Georgia builds it, it’s still the taxpayer’s money. It’s just a matter of which pocket it comes out of,” Lee said in an interview Friday. But that is not an argument that backers of the sales tax want to be making this summer.
Then there’s the matter of transparency: The list of projects was the result of an extraordinary – and largely – open series of negotiations among elected officials representing 10 counties in metro Atlanta. Deals cut in the Capitol are likely to be much less open to public inspection.
“Our concern would be what the voters’ reaction would be to a changed project list after they’ve participated in the process over such a long period of time,” said Bert Brantley, spokesman for the metro Atlanta referendum campaign.
So we come back to the $1 billion for those reversible lanes up I-75 and I-575. If the governor were to point to a likely funding source, that would make this whole fracas moot, wouldn’t it? Why, yes, said Lee on Friday.
Last week, state Rep. Jay Roberts, R-Ocilla, introduced HB 806, a bill that would free up $1.1 billion in unused motor fuel tax revenue languishing in the hallways of the state Department of Transportation – cash assigned to other projects and thus out of reach.
A portion of that cash is likely to find its way into Cobb County. Other sources will be tapped as well, said Brian Robinson, a more than slightly ticked-off spokesman for Deal. “The governor took the major step of heralding this project in the State of the State address, signaling its priority status. When this … project was shelved, the governor said we’d still get it done and he meant it,” Robinson wrote in an e-mail Friday.
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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94 comments Add your comment
Paddy O
January 29th, 2012
12:18 am
some genuine morons on here. FL allows local gov’t to tax gas, anywhere from 1 to 6 cents per gallon. The GA DoT is one of the very best in the nation. While our tran revenue has not substantially increased, our roads – 4 lane mostly – have been expanded expertly. Our roads are some of the very best in the nation, and we have terrific mobility. If you folks don’t like your commute – move closer to your job. The proposed TSPLOST is the perfect tool to raise funds for trans capital projects in GA. Even better, if the sleps in the Metro area screw it up, there are 11 othe regions which may not be that stupid. You won’t be able to lane you way out of the congestion – you must utilize mass transit – but/train – or your commute will get worse after the great obama recession has ended.
Paddy O
January 29th, 2012
12:20 am
out by the pond is a liberal. follow him at your own risk.
dagnabit
January 29th, 2012
12:53 am
It’s a good thing that we already have “spaghetti junction” cause this bunch would be completely mystified with the project. Democrats build; Republicans dribble.
Mike
January 29th, 2012
1:13 am
I just don’t get what they are thinking. We need to kick them all out of office and start over.
Z
January 29th, 2012
1:25 am
It is only a matter of time before we will be paying over $5.00 a gallon for gas. In Europe they already pay 8 10 Euros a liter. In Europe they have buses, trains, rail going everywhere. We are all going to pay one way or another so NOW is the time to start doing something about building rail, light rail from North to South through Atlanta. Raise the gas tax and build rail with that money. No more toll roads, hot lanes or reverse lanes, they don’t solve the problem they only slow down traffic, they don’t alleviate the problem. Pay someone some big bucks to figure this out because there doesn’t seem to be a one in Government now that can figure out the way to do it. Build it and the people will come, them as well as business.
B. Thenet
January 29th, 2012
1:31 am
I wonder if part of this is because Cobb is looking into a private firm that wants to build a monorail system within Cobb.(Simpsons fans, you may now chuckle with glee and perhaps even sign a line or two from the Monorail song in that episode)
dandaman
January 29th, 2012
2:23 am
Another example of why we will be perpetually be behind the times in terms of transportation.
I want rail to work! Forget more lanes. Can you please get me out my car so that I can avoid paying $75 a week in gas to sit in congested traffic lanes that are always under construction?!?!
When will we wise enough to decide that more lanes are not the solution to our traffic woes? I guess perhaps the same time that we decide that mass transit IS NOT handled better by a county-by-county basis? Maybe it is when we decide that the only real solution to all this traffic congestation is by completely overhauling our mass transit system?
With so many proven examples of mass transit in the world it amazes me that Atlanta, a interanational city by all respects, is so backwards in terms of fiding REAL solutions for its citizens.
I say no more new lanes. Lets take that penny tax increase-double it, get rid of the insignificant smaller county transits, adopt Marta across all of metro Atlanta, and build some real solutions that will be of actual benfit to us!
It seems so obvious. But what do I know? Its obvious these politicians/decision makers have our best interests in their hearts.
Jeff Sexton
January 29th, 2012
5:22 am
Here’s the thing about Ga’s existing fuel sales tax: Because it raises prices of gas on average about $0,20 over the price in SC, this resident of Aiken SC who works in Augusta Ga makes it a point to buy gas in Ga only when absolutely necessary, and even then just enough to get back across the border. Many Ga residents who work on the other side of the border (such as at the Savannah River Site, just 30 miles or so on the “wrong” side of the border) already make the same decision. Raise that tax as some have suggested here, and you may well push Ga residents who never cross the border but live in major border towns -hello Augusta, Columbus, Valdosta, Savannah, and even Rome and Dalton – and surrounding areas to cross the border for what many of you seem to be suggesting would be upwards of $1 per gallon of gas savings. A few cents, I can handle. (Such as one station to the next being a nickel or a dime apart. Not much difference to me there, though I do go cheaper when possible). But when you begin to talk of saving $10-$20 per tank, I know a LOT of people that will abandon the more expensive places in a heartbeat – they won’t be able to eat if they don’t.
Jeff Sexton
January 29th, 2012
5:28 am
One reason I personally don’t use mass transit (OTHER than the inconvenience of not having a stop near where I am nor where I need to go): If I drive myself, I can carry personal protection devices of my choice with me whereever I go. If I ride mass transit, they disarm me before I even get on. Thus, if a person attacks me in or near my car, they take THEIR life into their hands. If they attack me in or near mass transit, they take MY life into their hands. HUGE difference!
Dave
January 29th, 2012
6:32 am
With the tendency of the Cobb Police to turn any roadway into a fund raising opportunity. This will make it worse.
Reversible lanes = more deaths.
HOT lanes = more fines
Stop voting against your own best interests.
Jim Hall
January 29th, 2012
7:40 am
What a loser idea:( Instead of finding ways to reduce traffic, undereducated people are suggesting ways to dip into our pockets. The end result is a handful of people benefit while the rest of us suffer. Why can’t you find a way for people to move around the metropolitan Atlanta area without raising taxes? If there’s a profit to be made, then the private sector will “build it”. Don’t increase taxes or take away something that’s already paid for (like the lane of I85 recently) and make us pay for it again. Figure out how to get people out of their cars and into mass transit! If and when you figure that one out, alot of other cities will implement your ideas:)
Soreps
January 29th, 2012
9:13 am
OSAMA made DUBYA his bi@tch
The word is not “hes”; it is “he’s” you dumb monkey!
Matthew
January 29th, 2012
9:19 am
I cannot believe that they would substitute an immediate solution (Project 157 – buses from Acworth to inside the Perimeter) for a costly, frustrating “solution.”
How expensive can ten buses be? Two or three million? How long would it take to pay that investment back with daily / weekly fares?
SPBBBMBBSTBarlow
January 29th, 2012
9:25 am
I wish Cobb County would look at getting MARTA here
Soreps
January 29th, 2012
9:27 am
Z
Do u really believe a metro area the size of Atlanta and as spread out as metro Atlanta could support rail, light or otherwise? Rail and buses works well in confined areas; New York, San Francisco, Breckenridge etc. Not in metro Atlanta. Review the Marta record; it is pathetic. What Atlanta needs, the entire state, is a tough driving test to obtain a licenses, continued education on how to drive and use a cell phone simotaniously, and the outer loop (that all the do-gooders bitched about until it was scrapped) to keep truck freight out of the city. Just how many people will go from Ackworth to Cumberland Mall on a regular basis? 10 maybe 12. WAKE UP!
OSAMA made DUBYA his bi@tch
January 29th, 2012
9:28 am
@soreps
wow i made u madder than a birther at a civil rights rally…lol
Centrist
January 29th, 2012
9:34 am
Matthew posted “How long would it take to pay that investment back with daily / weekly fares?”
Fares NEVER cover the cost – taxpayers always subsidize them. Often the subsidies are so great it would be cheaper to simply carpool or even limo the relative few mass transit riders.
Soreps
January 29th, 2012
9:37 am
SPBBBMBBSTBarlow
Why would anyone want Marta in Cobb? it doesn’t pay for itself. Where Marta goes, crime increases in those areas (Cumberland and Perimeter Malls). Marta is a jobs program for minoraties and a cash cow for government fat cats. This is fact. If you want Marta, move your ass to Fulton or Dekalb and close the gate when you leave.
Soreps
January 29th, 2012
9:40 am
OSAMA made DUBYA his bi@tch
You didn’t make me mad at all; you could not make me mad. You are so dumb, you actually make me laugh. Your post say all one needs to know about your nappy ass. LOL
Soreps
January 29th, 2012
9:46 am
OSAMA made DUBYA his bi@tch
How about this; “wow, I made you madder than a monkey with a plastic banana”. Just for the record, were u educated in government schools or were you just never educated? LOL
Soreps
January 29th, 2012
9:50 am
OSAMA made DUBYA his bi@tch
Where did u go? Outside to smoke some crack?
Katie
January 29th, 2012
10:00 am
Now the truth…………
Quit being such a narrow minded racist! No one would ever bother paying a train fair to take a trip out to the burbs to mess with you and your “stuff”. Instead, they would probably just steal a car and take the interstate – much faster getaway w/ less likelihood of being seen! Duh.
zeke
January 29th, 2012
10:10 am
RAIL IS A USELESS WASTE OF HARD EARNED CONFISCATED TAXPAYER MONEY! HOV LANES CAUSE MORE GRIDLOCK! TOLL LANES WILL DO NOTHING MORE THAN CAUSE MORE GRIDLOCK! THE TAX MEASURE MUST BE VOTED DOWN! AND THE VOTE MUST BE CHANGED TO THE NOVEMBER ELECTION CYCLE TO HAVE MORE PEOPLE VOTING FOR OR AGAINST! THE ONLY REASON TO SCHEDULE ANY VOTE OR ELECTION ON A DIFFERENT DAY IS TO SUPPRESS THE AMOUNT OF VOTERS AND GIVE A BETTER CHANCE OF PASSING THE MEASURE!!
Katie
January 29th, 2012
10:15 am
Jim Hall: ‘If there’s a profit to be made, then the private sector will “build it”.’
I understand and appreciate your sentiment, but the problem is that major infrastructure projects are rarely profitable. No private company would have the finances to fund a major road/train project, or the will to put up that kind of risk with their money. A perfect example is the GA 400 tollway. The state only recently broke even with the toll that has been levied for 20 years on GA 400… and they just “broke even”, meaning there have been no profits. A 20 year commitment just to break even does not seem like a very sound investment if you ask me. That also very likely doesn’t include the true cost to maintain the highway – just the cost to build it.
Jim Hudson
January 29th, 2012
10:52 am
Didn’t Commissioner Lee learn anything from the COBB EMC debacle? The folks in Cobb County are tired of these let’s raise taxes for no good reason projects. I believe that he and the toll road will go down to defeat together.
deegee
January 29th, 2012
10:53 am
The commuters of Cobb County have a long history of NIMBY, “let someone else pick up the tab for my commute”, and “keep the trains out of Cobb County”, attitude. No offense to Jim, but they deserve every horrible rush hour they get.
Soreps
January 29th, 2012
11:05 am
OSAMA made DUBYA his bi@tc
I am not angry. Why should I be? I am making tons from making pay day loans to crack heads like you and tons from being part owner of a bail bondsmen business. Smoke some more crack and call me when you get busted or if you need a short term loan. Bye!
R Plenty
January 29th, 2012
11:27 am
If the SPLOST Tax money is diverted it should go to making Cobb Parkway a limited access highway. Cobb Parkway is perfectly suited to be an alternative to I-75 and would move a lot more traffic than 2 toll lanes added to I-75.
John
January 29th, 2012
11:54 am
Forget the toll lanes. Besides if you put toll lanes on 75, the commuters will start taking 41 to avoid paying them. How about a splost tax to cover building 2 additional lanes north and south?
Jay
January 29th, 2012
12:07 pm
If GA motorist where not so pushy and rude the roads would not be this bad. Stay off the phone and get out of the merge lane, once the exit passes move left even if you don’t see traffic. This keeps other drivers from slowing down below the speed limit because you were too impatient to give proper space to allow cars to merge. I know the state patrol explained it when I grew up, get out of the merge lane as part of the driver courtesy. If this was the case you would not see the traffic we have today. And you would not be talking about spending tax payer money to fund another project that inevitably will end up in the same. We should all be fighting any bills generated by the state for double dipping on the tax payer. Think of it this way when you file your taxes will they allow you to double dip for the same child deduction just a different name? Then why would you allow the state to take your taxes to tax you again so they can have a bigger budget. As you all know the government cannot govern itself, and is notoriously bad with money. What do you think the revenue generated from this project is going to be spent on? Not you but I guarantee somebody’s getting a pay raise and a couple of secretaries and it’s not you.
td
January 29th, 2012
12:10 pm
I like having arguments with myself online using multiple names.
PositiveCynic
January 29th, 2012
1:28 pm
The Transportation SPLOST will pass. I just hope it does not change. Too many projects throughout metro Atlanta that is badly needed ASAP. Some projects might not really be needed, but it has potential. No one has a crystal ball and be able to say a project will fail. I know more cars are not the solution and trying to reduce the number of cars using the legal system is not a solution. I know some might fear that some projects are a waste of taxpayer funds, but I am also smart enough to realize that all of metro Atlanta has to try something to help with the transportation problem.
I really wish companies would get tax breaks for paying for a van to transport workers to and from a rail and/or bus stop (i.e. the final mile). For major retailers and industry, this could result in a dramatic decrease in cars on road.
EC Sedgwick
January 29th, 2012
1:42 pm
Lived on BellsFerry For twenty years. I moved . Now I walk to the mail box I don’t really need to look.
Mike in Marietta
January 30th, 2012
7:44 am
I see you changed the headline to get more hits…
Nice way to take advantage of 10 deaths in Florida.
Shame
January 30th, 2012
8:09 am
Pretty insensitive headline immediately after 28 are killed or injured in a chain reaction collision on I-75.
Madison
January 30th, 2012
9:31 am
No to private ownership of the means of transportation. No to any shanghaid leader who supports the concept. We’ve constantly had efforts by well heeled lobbyists to privatize water, sewer, police, prisons and now roads. Ask some of the new cities how that worked out. Ask the folks in south georgia whose entire acquifer was almost sold to the highest bidder. The folk continue to rail about how we’re mortgaging our grandchildren’s future. How is that worse that selling that future outright?
Out by the Pond
January 30th, 2012
9:33 am
For all you people who were not here in the 60s when the vote on Marta first took place let me remind you that Cobb was told it would get the last station built and that it would be under Glover Park. For you less informed Glover Park is the square in downtown Marietta. At the time of the vote Cobb County did not have any concentrated tax base such as Cumberland Mall or Town Center. Marta had very little to offer Cobb and Cobb had even less to offer Marta. Also at the time of the vote it took only minuets longer for me to drive to downtown Atlanta than it did downtown Marietta from my East Cobb location.
Slip
January 30th, 2012
9:34 am
Just so you know. Phoenix and Charlotte love their light rail that they’ve built in the last decade while we’ve been courted by the privatizers.
Slip
January 30th, 2012
9:36 am
All true, Mr. Pond, but Cobb has consistently rejected MARTA in the ensuing 40 years. Please tell me they’ll will pay for their mistake in a positive way.
Slip
January 30th, 2012
9:39 am
“No to private ownership of the means of transportation. No to any shanghaid leader who supports the concept. We’ve constantly had efforts by well heeled lobbyists to privatize water, sewer, police, prisons and now roads. Ask some of the new cities how that worked out. Ask the folks in south georgia whose entire acquifer was almost sold to the highest bidder. The folk continue to rail about how we’re mortgaging our grandchildren’s future. How is that worse that selling that future outright?”
These are valuable discussions, but the east west corridor is still a disaster. It’s only 58 miles across hwy 20 from 75 to 85 – avg speed is less than 40
Will the last Democrat in Georgia please turn off the lights?.....
January 30th, 2012
9:47 am
That east-west corridor/Northern Arc doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of being built as county governments and state representatives in Forsyth and Cherokee Counties won’t even let any discussion of it ever happen.
Will the last Democrat in Georgia please turn off the lights?.....
January 30th, 2012
9:50 am
Out by the Pond
January 30th, 2012
9:33 am
Very true as Cobb County didn’t even really come to be considered “urban” until after the Olympics.
Western Bypass
January 30th, 2012
1:28 pm
@Last Democrat
January 30th, 2012
9:47 am
Any chance that the Western Bypass can be brought up again and built?
The prospects for traffic getting even worse after the Port Of Savannah is expanded are very real
This is like watching a multi-year train wreck in slow motion.
Natasha
January 30th, 2012
1:56 pm
So what I gather from all of this is that traffic in Metro Atlanta is not going to get any better any time soon :-/