Atlanta Transit Expansion Comes Closer as Region Prepares for Tax Referendum (Savannah: live, costs)

[testa50]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I would have guessed that southern states like Georgia, Florida and Texas pay in a lot more in taxes than most northeastern states.

Taxes tend to be correlated to income, and spending tends to be reverse-correlated to income. So poorer states (the south, in general) pay less and get more per capita. Also, southern states tend to have a lot more military spending dumped into them, which makes a huge difference.

However, Georgia tends to get roughly $1 for every dollar of taxes we pay, so we aren't really on either side of the argument over who wins the federal government's plinko game.


Also, I'll ask once again: why is everyone obsessed with expensive and dubious HSR projects when our dire congestion problems are largely within cities?

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by testa50

Taxes tend to be correlated to income, and spending tends to be reverse-correlated to income. So poorer states (the south, in general) pay less and get more per capita. Also, southern states tend to have a lot more military spending dumped into them, which makes a huge difference.

Yeah, I understand that. I was really referring to the amount paid by the various states (not relative to what they may receive in funding). My assumption was that large states like Georgia, Florida and Texas would pay in more than small states such as Maine, New Hampshire, Delaware, Connecticut, etc.

But maybe that's not the case. If these small states are paying in what states with 5 or 10 (or 20) times their population are paying, they're getting seriously hosed.

[testa50]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Yeah, I understand that. I was really referring to the amount paid by the various states (not relative to what they may receive in funding). My assumption was that large states like Georgia, Florida and Texas would pay in more than small states such as Maine, New Hampshire, Delaware, Connecticut, etc.

But maybe that's not the case. If these small states are paying in what states with 5 or 10 (or 20) times their population are paying, they're getting seriously hosed.

Well yeah, large states definitely pay a lot more total than smaller states.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by testa50

Also, I'll ask once again: why is everyone obsessed with expensive and dubious HSR projects when our dire congestion problems are largely within cities?

They are sexy. Sorta like fascination with skyscrapers when what may be needed is low and mid-rise infill.

[po-boy]

I actually think it looks like they made a good call on how to spend this money. HSR has a place and IMO that place is for medium-length trips (like 2-6 hours). Once you are talking abut trips longer than that, it just makes more sense to fly. So I think HSR between Atlanta and Charlotte is a good idea. HSR across the entire country, not so much.

Some of the comments to the article noted that if the Atlantic Station Amtrak station were built it might reduce the chance of the Gulch multi-node transportation center being developed. I'm not an expert, but if it really is an either/or situation, I think the transportation center makes more sense.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Atlanta Transit Expansion Comes Closer as Region Prepares for Tax Referendum « The Transport Politic

Ya ,Go Atlanta.....i can't believe i'm saying that...

'Bout time! Good to see some serious proposals. Now let's get them moving.

I'd like to see a comprehensive map of all the transit plans being proposed. A vote as soon as 2012--wow.

I see that the I-20 rail proposal is now a busway? And has the Braves transit line been dropped?

Originally Posted by Adric

It is possible that a massive expansion of mass transit in the Atlanta metro might be just the thing to get us out of this housing rut. The tax might pay for itself through increased property values with proximity to mass transit.

A good link:

How Does Mass Transit Affect Property Values? | Rain City Guide

That will make up for all the TVs that the new criminals will steal!

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

I'd like to see a comprehensive map of all the transit plans being proposed. A vote as soon as 2012--wow.

The Atlanta Regional Commission prepared a cool interactive GIS map showing all the proposed projects. Here's the link:

Transportation Investment Act - Local Government Requests Under Consideration

[Rod_moore]

WOW,so no expansion coming to the Stockbridge/McDonough area? That's crazy because I-75 there has some of the worse traffic in the Atlanta area.

[testa50]

Originally Posted by arjay57

The Atlanta Regional Commission prepared a cool interactive GIS map showing all the proposed projects. Here's the link:

Transportation Investment Act - Local Government Requests Under Consideration

That's cool!

If they had a response column, I would probably get banned from the site.

At least a "thumbs up/thumbs down" option would be cool.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by po-boy

I actually think it looks like they made a good call on how to spend this money. HSR has a place and IMO that place is for medium-length trips (like 2-6 hours). Once you are talking abut trips longer than that, it just makes more sense to fly. So I think HSR between Atlanta and Charlotte is a good idea. HSR across the entire country, not so much.

You do make a good point at least for the short term (next 20 years or so), Atlanta is in a great position in the country to reach a lot of places by air, road, or rail but in order to make it efficient cost wise or even make sense we would have the train would have to go a city where constant back and forth travel for either business or tourism for a ton of people on a daily basis.

Right now, the only cities that meet that definition for High Speed Rail within a 500 mile radius is Charlotte and Savannah. While connecting to cities like DC, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami, Houston make sense, there is a lot of work in between that we have no control over for that to happen. So while it would be nice to have that, its not absolutely essential that we do in the short term.

Where we could very possibly shoot ourselves in the foot is to not plan a course of action where we become the eventual hub of this future HSR rail operations in the Southeast. Thank goodness for a good geographical location though.