Twenty projects for Fulton County are on the final approved list by the Atlanta Regional Roundtable. Many of the projects are for the northern portion of the county, but several will be key for south Fulton.
Hutcheson Ferry Road at Atlanta Newnan Road and Rico Road will see a roundabout construction for a total of $1.75 million; Camp Creek Parkway from I-85 South to Welcome All Road will be widened at a cost of $60.25 million; interchange improvements at I-85 South at State Route 74 are included for $11.25 million; and Butner Road at Camp Creek Parkway will see intersection improvements and a bridge replacement for $3.5 million.
The project list includes a bevy of improvements to MARTA, and $95 million has been earmarked for the GRTA Xpress bus system, which its service was threatened had those funds not been put in place.
The 1-cent tax, if approved by voters, will be collected during a period of 10 years, beginning in January 2013. The Atlanta Regional Commission, which oversees the 10-county region under which Fulton County falls, estimates that the tax will accrue $8 billion during its 10 years.
The final project list for all 10 counties comes to a total of $6.1 billion. The region will divide 85 percent of the funds collected to go toward the approved projects; the remaining 15 percent will be divided amongst the counties as discretionary funds for other transportation projects.
Fulton County is projected to generate $2.5 million during the 10-year period.
The Atlanta Regional Commission states that, through the TSPLOST projects, there will be a 24 percent decrease in future travel delays.
Elizabeth “B.J.” Mathis, Henry County commission chairman and member of the Atlanta Regional Roundtable, said two of the most common concerns she’s heard regarding the TSPLOST involve adding a 1-cent tax during a downed economy and whether GDOT is capable of handling such large amounts of money.
Residents, she said, need to research the issue and vote how they see fit.
“One of the greatest things we possess as Americans is the right to go to the polls and make our will known to our elected officials, and I sincerely hope people take time to do that,” Mathis said.
Information: www.metroatlantatransportationvote.com
The engineers and the politicians are stuck in the mindset of the 20th century. They can't get people to ride the trains we have now, because people don't want to ride the trains. So I don't believe all these BILLIONS are going to give us BILLIONS in traffic relief. Oh, we'll get a few million dollars worth of relief, but this is a pile of dog excrement with a teaspoon of sugar. No thanks.
The future is using your cell phone to hail a driverless cab to take you to your office, picking up other passengers, driving 80MPH on highways, drafting less than 12 inches from the car in front of it, integrating with a regional light timing system, and zipping everyone around town faster than the fools stuck in the 1900's could have ever dreamed.
Or you could vote for this bill, which crams you like sardines into buses and trains that smell like urine. Your call.