City Council brings ‘urgency’ to transforming Atlanta’s streets

The second annual Transportation Roundtable by Propel ATL brought together advocates and Atlanta City Council members to discuss key issues in the transportation landscape at the Downtown Switchyards location on Feb 20. 

Dozens of cyclists, pedestrians and public transit enthusiasts participated in the presentations and Q & A session with submitted questions. Council members Amir Farokhi, Jason Winston, Alex Wan, Jason Dozier and Byron Amos attended. 

Each council member discussed their transportation priorities before answering questions from Propel ATL Executive Director Rebecca Serna on topics including maintenance, staffing, safety and public transit.

Founded in 1991, Propel ATL was formerly known as the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition (ABC) and Pedestrians Educating Drivers on Safety (PEDS). The Bicycle Coalition merged with PEDS in 2021 and rebranded in 2022 as Propel ATL, working to “transform Atlanta’s streets into safe, inclusive, and thriving spaces for people to ride, walk, and roll.”

Propel ATL’s biggest policy push is increased funding for the Atlanta Department of Transportation, the city department created in 2019. Last year the department’s funding was cut by 12 percent to about $50 million. 

According to Serna, that budget is about three times less than the funding for similar-sized cities that are also members of the National Association of City Transportation Officials. During budget hearings city officials said ADOT funding is only one part of the “arsenal” of transit funding, with $350 million in TSPLOST funds and $400 million from two bond issues. 

Wan said the city cut funding because the transportation department “didn’t have the capacity” to take on more projects with high vacancy rates. Still, the council members agreed the ADOT needs to hire more people for a robust department.

“We have to look outside, we’ve got to bring other project managers from the private sector in our contract bases, whatever it takes to get these projects, essentially enhancing our capacity and our staffing,” Wan said. 

The councilmember called for “above entry salaries” and urged residents to tell the city if a project manager salary seems too low. 

One member-submitted comment compared the situation to the shortage of emergency room nurses, though: “Everyone who gets hit by a car gets a nurse.” The commenter said it is about addressing priorities. 

Dozier said for the “limited funding we have, our focus has been on sidewalk gaps and sidewalk repairs.” 

Other council members also put sidewalk maintenance and connective at the top of their lists, with a few different approaches to the issue. 

Councilmember Farokhi said when he took office, he received $1.5 million in discretionary dollars to work on the sidewalks. But Farokhi had to narrow his list down due to repair costs, which can be “unexpectedly expensive.”

Still, Farokhi said he is “passionate about getting sidewalks in good repair.” 

Wan proposed another option: having residents maintain their own sidewalks in the meantime. He said it can be “prohibitively expensive” to maintain projects due to insurance requirements, which he hopes to relax.

Councilmember Amos, who chairs the Transportation Committee said his goal is to have departments to deliver all the project goals, but there will be “some hangups.” 

“We’re going to have to make some tough decisions between roads or sidewalks, we’re going to have to have conversations between buses, streetcars, (bus rapid transit) and autonomous vehicles,” Amos said. “We’re going to have to have those conversations, but with the right leadership which I know we have our colleagues here, I think we’re empowered as a city and all of the knowledge that’s in this room to pay out those conversations.”

Amos said overall he noticed the “sense of urgency” at Propel ATL has reached City Hall. 

After the meeting, attendee Jacob Chambers said the urgency was his main takeaway. 

“What Amos said with urgency making it into places where people are making decisions, it’s not gonna get better on its own and that is heartening for me,” Chambers said. 

ThreatATL planning and design-oriented nonprofit cofounder Matthew Garbett, a longtime “good urbanism” advocate said the meeting is definitely “better” than discussions used to be. Garbett said “10-15 years ago we wouldn’t have had this turnout” from people or council members.