Cobb County Comprehensive Transportation Plan Too Car-Centric (Atlanta, Kennesaw: appointed, crime)

[netdragon]

For all those who live in Cobb County or commute into or through Cobb County, please go to Cobb County DOT and look at how automobile-centric the comprehensive transportation plan is and how many planned road-widenings there are and how much that is going to cost -- money that could go towards rail. $4 billion towards roads and only $1 billion towards transit between now and 2030! If you feel disappointed by their plan, I recommend contacting people in charge and complaining about their lack of emphasis on rail and the sparsity of discussion of the CSX rail line passenger train concept through the city centers, which got little more than a short mention. Also, I'm personally disappointed by the lack of combined planning going on with other counties. There are 5 pages of the full report set aside to discuss combined planning, but everything seems a few years old, and there's a of any considerations to tie-ins to any NW MARTA extensions and the only ATL tie-in discussed connecting to midtown or downtown is a streetcar along Cobb Parkway connection to midtown.

The full report section 1-3 says that 50.6% of respondants' primary recommendations to improve traffic congestions were other forms of transit, so why all the road widening projects?? Why not put that money towards rail?! Cobb County is the second most densely populated county in the metro region (after Dekalb county), and should have more mass transit than busses.

Please email transportation AT cobbcounty DOT org with your input. We need to stop this business as usual! Let's turn Cobb County into something real and not let it slowly deteriorate into a suburban wasteland! We need to make it clear that expenditures on rapid transit is expected, not optional.

[neil0311]

One thing to consider is that not everyone works in an office and/or downtown. Transit is important, but it has to go where people need to go, when they need to go there. Unless the Atlanta area suddenly is able to build a transit system like the ones in NYC, Chicago, Boston, Philly, etc., the majority of commuters will still need to use their cars, and this can't be ignored.

In these cities, the transit systems have been in place for 50 - 120 years, and the commuter rail lines have also been in place for as long or sometimes longer. The cities grew up along and around these lines, with both residential neighborhoods and businesses served by transit. Atlanta can never retrofit the same type of system, given the logistics and cost challenges. That means that transit should be built that can be built economically while getting the most number of commuters to the most places (light rail?). This also means that many people will be unable to take advantage of transit that is inconvenient or doesn't serve their needs. These folks will still rely on autos and infrastructure has to be added to meet their needs.

[PeakFreak]

Cobb County has almost 700,000 people in it (which is more then some states have in total).
There are three major factors that should be looked at when talking about rail lines and mass transit - and these should be the primary items talked about.
1 - Population
2 - Polution
3 - Economy and Gas Prices

1 - OBVIOUSLY the population dicatates that there is a demand for it. Regardless if the majority of the population is upper-middleclass and/or wealthy - there is still a significant part of cobb population that does not have a higher income and that alone has kept the bus line a necessity for the past 20 years.
2 - Polution has been a bane in the Atlanta area for MANY years and with about 20% of the population based in Cobb there NEEDS to be something done - especially since Federal Laws are getting more and more strict towards both governments as well as the average person and the average person's car.
3 - at 4 dollars a gallon do I need to say ANYTHING about gas prices?

a rail line is much more economical way to transport Cobb residents to the Marta line and other areas of the city. It can by-pass traffic and does not need to deal with the hassels of gas prices cutting into cost. In otherwords a rail could charge a passenger $1.50 even if gas prices were 50 dollars a gallon - especially if they used the mag-lev system to run it.
The only interference in bringing the rail line and even bus service out to non-urban areas has ALWAYS been the worry of "bad elements" coming out there. This concern is also usually brought up by those who are ignorant of all the facts and live on the edge of fear from poor and the minority because of myths and fear tactics stated by bigots and politicians and wealthy. The "bad elements" are everywhere regardless of class, race, or location. This is why there is as much crime (relatively speaking) far away from the cities as there is IN the cities. The difference is that 100 miles away from a downtown area they don't have 5 million people. So if 1 million commit any sort of crime in Atlanta that is like 100,000 in Wyoming or 4 million in New York City.
It is all relative to the amount of population.

So given all these bits of information - can someone explain WHY in 2008 there is STILL no rail line in Cobb County, Especially since we are part of a city of 5 million people?

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by PeakFreak

So given all these bits of information - can someone explain WHY in 2008 there is STILL no rail line in Cobb County, Especially since we are part of a city of 5 million people?

Has a rail line project for Cobb County actually been proposed and developed to the point where a common citizen like myself can view and evaluate it?

I don't know that I would have that much personal interest in using such a rail line, since it wouldn't buy us that much in terms of commuting (my wife and I are both relatively close to work, so we have short commutes and the cost of driving is not that great), but if it seemed to be cost-effective for the county I would certainly support it.

Without a concrete plan in place, however, all you or I can do is engage in wishful thinking.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by PeakFreak

The only interference in bringing the rail line and even bus service out to non-urban areas has ALWAYS been the worry of "bad elements" coming out there. This concern is also usually brought up by those who are ignorant of all the facts and live on the edge of fear from poor and the minority because of myths and fear tactics stated by bigots and politicians and wealthy. The "bad elements" are everywhere regardless of class, race, or location.

This may be the case for some people, but I also think it's an excuse to dismiss anyone who thinks roads and other proposals are worth discussing, or wants to hear specifics of what transit could be built and how it will be funded. People need to realize that not everyone is scared, ignorant, or a racist if they question the value of just building a few heavy rail stations to downtown. The devil is in the details.

As a practical question....where would these rail stations in Cobb be located? Believe it or not, the only places where I sit in traffic are on local streets just a mile or two from my house, because they are just 2 lane (one lane in each direction).

I would probably use rail to go to the airport if it was convenient, but that rail isn't going to solve my biggest issue, traffic congestion on local roads. The rail station would probably be several miles away from my house and would take me a while to get to in local traffic, and if you add time it takes the train to go through downtown and get to the airport, I probably won't save any time, and with parking costs, probably won't save any money either.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

Has a rail line project for Cobb County actually been proposed and developed to the point where a common citizen like myself can view and evaluate it?

The transportation plan they have in the form of "studies" indicates they have been thinking of rail that would go from the Kennesaw State school area to the Cumberland Mall area (and I would assume into Atlanta to connect to MARTA?), but I have as of yet to ever see any plans on paper with proposed routes, stations, etc.

In other words - lots of discussions by the County - no action yet.

[gt6974a]

Not sure how fast y'all actually think govt. gets things done, but mass transit wasn't even an option to discuss just 5 years ago.

The same can be said for 'global warming' and gas prices, both of which are relatively 'new' issues.

This is the 20th thread on this, but again, unless it's in the form of a SPLOST tax it isn't going to happen. Cobb residents (as I am one for 30 years now) are not going to permanently tax themselves for something that less than 10% of the population would use.

Would it help? Yes. Would I vote for it? Yes. But I'm also one of the few whom it would actually benefit as I work downtown off Peachtree Street. I take the XPress bus now.

I also work in the RR industry as CSX is one of our biggest customers and am familiar with the track layout. You'd have far fewer people taking that, than the existing Xpress Bus systems as it's not convenient to hardly any work centers.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

In other words - lots of discussions by the County - no action yet.

This would explain WHY in 2008 there is STILL no rail line in Cobb County.