The bill (Senate Bill 200) would give the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House of Representatives more control over the more than $2 billion in state transportation spending.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Tommie Williams (R-Lyons), would shift many of the powers now held by the state Department of Transportation to a new agency called the State Transportation Authority. The authority, which would choose most state road projects, would be controlled by a board that was hand-picked by the state’s top three elected officials.
Three people hand-picking the decision-makers, eh? GDOT might be broke and mired in 1950s planning perspectives, but this bill will lead to an unprecedented politicization of transportation funding decisions. Good luck convincing the three good ole boys at the dome to fund greenways, rail-trails, transit, commuter rail, bike paths, sidewalks...
Contact your senator.
House bill [277 would] levy a 1 percent sales tax statewide for specified transportation projects over 10 years
Status: House Transportation Committee passed, likely full House vote this week.
With a vote likely this week, please contact your state representative and ask for support of this bill. When you write or call, be sure to emphasize your support for a variety of transportation choices, such as commuter rail, bike and pedestrian facilities, and buses. This transportation tax should primarily fund the creation and maintenance of alternatives to road widening & construction.
A standing committee of five commissioners is deciding how to spend $500,000 the commission earmarked for alternative transportation - walking, biking and buses - in 2006.Officials said they want to spend $75,000 to update a plan for future bike lanes written in 2001, expanding it beyond the three-mile radius from downtown that was mapped out eight years ago. They also want to hold back $25,000 for incidental expenses.
Projects that parks, transportation and Athens Transit officials said could be funded with the remaining money include:
► $400,000 to buy land for a future expansion of a planned, federally funded park-and-ride lot at Oconee Street and the Athens Perimeter.
► $400,000 to widen College Station Road between Research Drive and Barnett Shoals Road to add lanes for bike riders.
► $400,000 to build 1.3 miles of sidewalks along Oglethorpe Avenue, Whit Davis Road, Cherokee Road, Research Road and Cedar Shoals Drive.
► $400,000 to build a trail connecting the Multimodal Transportation Center to a planned rail-trail project in East Athens.
► $400,000 to supplement sales tax revenue earmarked for the North Oconee River Greenway.
► $400,000 to build paths in a proposed park along Pulaski Creek.
► $400,000 to build a bike lane along West Broad Street/Atlanta Highway from Alps Road to greenspace near the Middle Oconee River.
► $400,000 to build an off-road path connecting Milledge Avenue and Milledge Avenue Extension.
► $200,000 to buy land for bus shelters at stops where the local government does not own right-of-way.
► $50,000 to promote Athens Transit bus service.
► $20,000 to buy and install 40 bike racks around Athens.
Systemic shake-ups afoot. What this means for bike/ped/transit funding remains to be seen, but my gut feeling is tense skepticism. Stay tuned...The state’s top leaders are quietly planning big changes to the way Georgia spends transportation money.
Gov. Sonny Perdue, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson have kept their talks under wraps. But a draft organizational chart obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggests the plan could gut the responsibilities of the state Transportation Board, which currently approves project lists and sets policy for the state’s $2 billion annual transportation budget.
The state Transportation Board is elected by the Legislature now, but the process spreads out the power among individual legislators. Each of the 13 board members, who currently approve the state’s project lists, serves a congressional district and is elected by all of the state legislators who represent a part of his or her district.
According to the draft plan, the state would combine the current State Road and Tollway Authority and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority into a new entity with members appointed by the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the House. The authority would create long- and short-range statewide transportation plans. It would also write “distribution criteria” for money. The governor would then recommend the road budget and the General Assembly would approve it.
It’s too early to say what the plan could mean for Georgia commuters, travelers and haulers.
Some transportation-policy experts say it might make road project choices even more political. Others say that it could get politics out of the way of the engineers and road crews, and get projects to ribbon-cutting faster.
One legislator predicted the overhaul of the state’s transportation governance could kill proposals for new transportation funding, leaving officials in the new transportation organization with little or nothing to spend.
The Athens-Clarke Commission is gearing up again after a monthslong break for elections and the holidays.Commissioner contact information.The Government Operations Committee, another five-member group that considers internal policies, will set out Tuesday to revise a plan for future bicycle lanes across the county, said Commissioner Kelly Girtz, the committee's chairman.
Committee members also will discuss how to spend $500,000 the commission earmarked in 2006 for alternative transportation - walking, biking or buses.
Commissioners set aside the money as part of a deal to build a portion of a West Athens road, Jennings Mill Parkway, when state funding unexpectedly became available.
[T]he measure includes almost $54 billion to help states with their budget deficits and to modernize schools, $27.5 billion for highway projects, $8.4 billion for public transportation and $9.3 billion for Amtrak and high-speed rail service, among other projects.Now, we wait to see what Georgia's legislature will do with this loot. Let's hope they don't ignore the Brain Train to subsidize pitchfork-brandishing mobs outside of Women's Studies...
The pay-and-display system also will cut down on streetside clutter, because each new machine can handle up to 10 parking spaces, [ADDA Executive Director Kathryn] Lookofsky said.
"It will make the sidewalks more walkable."
Moments after he delivered the keynote address to the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), Oregon's Rep. Earl Blumenauer, head of the Congressional Bike Caucus, met with Streetsblog Editor-in-Chief Aaron Naparstek [to talk] about the current federal stimulus bill and how advocates can better engage their leaders:
The University of Georgia will add two more parking decks, one near the intramural fields off College Station Road and one near the Performing and Visual Arts Center on East Campus.
If approved today as expected by the University System Board of Regents, construction crews will begin work within weeks and finish as early as August, said UGA spokesman Tom Jackson.
The $9.2 million, 490-parking space deck near the intramural fields is scheduled to be finished in time to furnish overflow parking for UGA home football games, Jackson said.
UGA is supposed to be discouraging automobile use. These decks are utterly at odds with the university's demonstrated commitment to 1) expanding greenspace, 2) increasing walk- and bike-ability on campus, and 3) encouraging on-campus living.
W H O
Metro Atlanta Mayors Association (MAMA), Georgia Bikes!, and event sponsors will host over 1,000 cyclists from the metro Atlanta region. Police-escorted rides will depart from Decatur and Roswell led respectively by Mayor Bill Floyd and Mayor Jere Wood as well as other mayors and public officials from the region.
W H A T
During the fourth annual "Georgia Rides to the Capitol" event, cyclists will embark on rides to the Capitol in order to raise support for improved conditions for cycling, including the development of regional systems of both on-road bicycling facilities and multi-use-trails.
W H E N
Tuesday, March 3, 2009, during the state legislative session. Estimated time of arrival at the Capitol is 11:40 a.m. Your starting time will depend on which city or auxiliary location you choose to start at or which route you choose to join along the way.
W H Y
Riding to raise support for the development of a regional-scale bicycle network of both on-road facilities and multi-use-trails, and cycling connections to major transit facilities, activity centers, and schools.MAMA also intends to raise awareness of the benefits of bicycling as an important form of transportation; a beneficial economic development and tourism tool; an excellent way to maintain health and fitness; and a great sport and family activity.
What we really face is a comprehensive contraction in our activities, especially the scale of our activities, and the pressing need to readjust the systems of everyday life to a level of decreased complexity.
For instance, the myth that we can become "energy independent and yet remain car-dependent is absurd. In terms of liquid fuels, we're simply trapped. We import two-thirds of the oil we use and there is absolutely no chance that drill-drill-drilling (or any other scheme) will change that. The public and our leaders can not face the reality of this. The great wish for "alternative" liquid fuels (bio fuels, algae excreta) will never be anything more than a wish at the scales required, and the parallel wish to keep all our cars running by other means -- hydrogen fuel cells, electric motors -- is equally idle and foolish. We cannot face the mandate of reality, which is to do everything possible to make our living places walkable, and connect them with public transit. The stimulus bills in congress clearly illustrate our failure to understand the situation.
Georgia House leaders revived an effort Monday for a 1 percent statewide sales tax that would funnel $25 billion into transportation projects during the next decade across Georgia.Federal funding from the bailout/stimulus plan may also boost transit support.The proposal comes loaded with transportation projects to coax legislators who have been reluctant to support past tax-raising efforts - and who may be even more wary this year amid the economic slump.
State Rep. Vance Smith, who chairs the House Transportation Committee, said he's confident the measure will earn the support it needs in the House. But it remains to be seen whether it will win over voters in the Senate.
[The Senate] is pressing its own plan that would allow regions to band together to charge a one-cent sales tax to fund transportation projects. The House begrudgingly embraced the regional plan last year, only to watch as the effort fell one vote short in the Senate.
The proposal promises some juicy dollops for traffic-choked metro Atlanta, including funding for a streetcar route in the heart of the city, a rail line that would stretch to Athens and money for the Beltline project, which would create a ring of parks and light rail around Atlanta.
Posts
All Comments
