Deal wants $10 billion, 10-year transportation investment plan (Atlanta, Columbus: chapel, purchase)

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

I do think that bridges, at the least, should be a high priority. There's a really significant safety component to replacing crumbling bridges.

Forget it, he's rolling.

Anything less than this $10 billion going straight to MARTA was going to be met with derision on here. Very predictable.

[netdragon]

I guess Dawsonville, Hall County and Dallas will become the next Cumming, and we have the governor and all the "no spend" red suburban GA idiots to blame who cause sprawl "to save money" just to mire us in 10x the road projects in the future after they get tired of the traffic.

One thing I'll give is that we could use a few more bridges across the Chattahoochee River. It's a big bottleneck.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by Gulch

Forget it, he's rolling.

Anything less than this $10 billion going straight to MARTA was going to be met with derision on here. Very predictable.

The thing is, yes roads are important, yes bridges need to be rebuilt and interchanges updated for newer cars, but we do need transit expansion. To have a govenor release a plan which he is holding as helping traffic, without actually providing an alternative to traffic, it comes across as a hollow gesture.

We don't need $10 Bil. for MARTA from the state, even if it would be an amazing thin, but to have nothing for transit, at all? Excuse me if i'm not super supportive of this whole thing.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

The thing is, yes roads are important, yes bridges need to be rebuilt and interchanges updated for newer cars, but we do need transit expansion. To have a govenor release a plan which he is holding as helping traffic, without actually providing an alternative to traffic, it comes across as a hollow gesture.

We don't need $10 Bil. for MARTA from the state, even if it would be an amazing thin, but to have nothing for transit, at all? Excuse me if i'm not super supportive of this whole thing.

I sort of look at it as "some" progress. Ideal? No way, Jose. But, it's a start. I believe it will take new leadership in the Governor's Mansion before the state gets around to seriously considering its transit options. So, for now, I think this is about as good as it gets. Here's hoping the state votes in a visionary next go around at the ballot box.

[primaltech]

For every dollar you spend on MARTA/transit, it's like spending/getting a free dollar on roads, because it will take pressure off the over-taxed road system, which is currently most people's only decent commuting option.

$10 billion spent on roads later... and cars will still be the only way to get around most places. And that's what's stupid. The aversion to transit.

I'm all for 50/50 for both equally, but we've neglected transit for so long, that we'd need $20 billion 100% for transit, just to catch up to a fair 50/50 situation, then you could switch to funding both evenly.

[netdragon]

Time for metro Atlanta to secede from GA.

[Born 2 Roll]

From what I understand, the $10 billion that Governor Deal is proposing to spend on transportation is to address a backlog of road repairs, road maintenance and road upgrades that have gone unaddressed for many years.

In many of the discussions that went on before the passage of the $900 million/yearly transportation tax increase in the 2015 Georgia General Assembly, the passage of the tax was intended to be a sign to the business community that the state was committed to spending on transportation needs at a much higher level than has been done over the last several years.

The passage of last year's transportation bill was also pushed as a down payment of sorts on continued future transportation spending on transit, which is an infinitely much heavier lift both politically and logistically.

From the conversations that were had in advance of the passage of the transportation bill in 2015, more action appears to be coming on increasing investment to transit in future years and sessions of the Georgia General Assembly.

Though with an agitated electorate for which tax increases for transportation spending (particularly for transit) remains anathema, that action for transit will most likely have to happen during odd-numbered years (like 2017, 2019, etc) when elections before that agitated largely anti-transit Republican primary electorate will not figure as heavily into the political equation as they will during even-numbered years (like 2016 and 2018).

Nathan Deal, who is in his second term as governor, also seems to be deferring much of the action on transit to Lt. Governor Casey Cagle, who is currently the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for governor and the odds-on favorite to win the Governor's race in 2018.

During many past speeches to and conversations with the dominant Metro Atlanta and North Georgia business communities, Cagle has seemed to want to take the lead on increasing transit investment and has repeatedly expressed a desire to get the state much more involved in managing, operating and expanding rail transit service in and throughout Metro Atlanta and North Georgia.

Cagle seems to want to take the lead on an issue in transit that he has much more interest in than the current sitting governor, Nathan Deal, who despite the seeming lack of movement on transit has still been key to getting the state out of the deep and severe (and ominous) transportation funding rut that it had fallen into during the Sonny Perdue administration.

Governor Deal may not be a transformative figure on transit (the kind of transformative figure that Lt. Governor Cagle appears to want to be if he becomes governor), but Deal has still been key in getting the ball rolling on transportation funding in metro Atlanta after an extended period of severe inaction by state government on transportation in the Atlanta region.

[primaltech]

Guys, you'll be able to sit in dead standstill traffic on a freshly paved road instead of a crumbled one, as if that mattered. And it will only cost you and your kids $10,000,000,000.00. And we will continue to do transit studies every year.

[Caleb Longstreet]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Deal wants $10 billion, 10-year transportation investment plan

What about Interstate 3? (Highway from Savannah to Knoxville)? Is there any plan to get this funded (I know, it's Federal but, highly related).....this would go a long, long way to alleviate all the trucks that run through Atlanta as there is no other way to get South if you are West of I-95.....major corridor that needs major relief...

That coupled with expanding I-16 and I-20 a bit......if we can build "Ga 300" the most elegant and non-used highway to Albany from I-75 certainly we can fix that I-16/I-75 split near downtown Macon...downright dangerous....I-475 heading south/north notwithstanding (think I-16 coming West and making the split second decision to go North or South on I-75...no worries, most people force you off one way or another.....

How about a 775 to cover the approaches to I-285 on the West side of town...kind of like I-675 tried to do going East....coming north into town is ALWAYS a nightmare in Henry County....

No matter.....10 billion.....hope there is TREMENDOUS accounting/accountability with the money.....that is no small budget.....anyone got the numbers on the ongoing maintenance AFTER it's all in place?

[Sualpine]

It's almost as if other cities don't exist for us to study and emulate.