Georgia’s federal funding request for the express lanes along Ga. 400 could have been viewed as a long shot. It was one of 234 grant applications submitted, including four others from Georgia. In the end, it was among 20 selected for the first round of major funding under President Trump’s new infrastructure initiative.
By Guest Columnist GEOFF DUNCAN, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor
For anyone who lives in metro Atlanta, there isn’t a day that goes by that their greatest nemesis – traffic congestion – isn’t a topic of conversation.
For far too many of us, just figuring out how we get from Point A to Point B has become the greatest challenge of living and working in this region. INRIX, the transportation analytics firm, ranked Atlanta’s congestion the fourth worst in the nation last year and eighth worst in the world.
Even with more than $7 billion in transit and road construction on the books in metro Atlanta, the future of mobility improvements is soon to be developed in Chamblee and along Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, in Gwinnett County.
The next generation of transportation technology is to be developed in Chamblee and Gwinnett County, which on Tuesday were awarded cash grants and year-long technical support from a Georgia Tech research team. They were among the four winners of the first Georgia Smart Communities Challenge.
By Guest Columnist SETH MILLICAN, executive director of the Georgia Transportation Alliance
“If you build it, they will come,” isn’t just a catch phrase from a beloved baseball movie. It’s the philosophy that made Atlanta and Georgia the economic juggernaut of the Southeast.
The shareable electric scooters that a California company dropped on Atlanta last month could be part of fixing the city’s mobility problem. But with Bird’s arrival, Atlanta’s also facing a fleet of vehicles that some other cities have claimed are a dangerous and sidewalk-blocking nuisance.
By Guest Columnist WILLIAM VANDERKLOOT, a film director/producer with a unique insight into Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighborhood.
A few years ago Google announced it would archive older images from its Google Maps StreetView program to create a StreetView History section for various cities. StreetView is less than 10 years old, but decades from now it will be a local historian’s delight. I only wish we had StreetView back when I moved my company to the Old Fourth Ward in 1979.
Like the proverbial frog submersed in slowly heating water, familiarity with our immediate surroundings makes us oblivious to incremental change. That is until one day we suddenly realize almost everything is different. That happened to me regarding my studio in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood.
Nearly 20 years ago, key business and government leaders heralded the creation of a new transportation authority that would tackle metro Atlanta’s traffic problems by expanding transit.
And so the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority – GRTA – was born.
At the time, there was one naysayer – the late Harry West, the longtime executive director of the Atlanta Regional Commission.
The commute along Ga. 400 worsened Friday as the northbound flex lane was permanently closed a short distance just north of the road’s intersection with I-285. The closure is part of the $800 million project to retool one of the state’s busier intersections.
The State Road and Tollway Authority is to distribute the $100 million in state funding for transit. It’s not clear who will serve on the SRTA board that will make the decision and, the last time SRTA divided transit money, nearly two-thirds of the money went to metro Atlanta.
Potholes and the metal plates that cover some of them are enough of a problem that one member of the Atlanta City Council has suggested the city consider reconvening the “pothole posse” formed by then Mayor Shirley Franklin to fix crumbling streets.
By Guest Columnist BRIAN GIST, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center
For years, the idea of a comprehensive regional transit system in metro Atlanta seemed unattainable. It’s hard to even imagine taking a train from Decatur to SunTrust Park, or from Duluth to Atlanta’s airport.
As state lawmakers discuss transportation spending, a new report highlights another wrinkle in Georgia’s roadways. The condition of rural roads ranks in nation’s the Top 10, and the urban roadways rank 47th in terms of congestion, according to findings from the Reason Foundation.
By early next month, Georgia lawmakers will publish a plan to deepen cooperation among and increase spending on metro Atlanta’s public transit agencies. They’ve got a big job, looking for a way to unify a region and minimize difficulties in an always-expensive, now fragmented, and sometimes contentious area of public policy.
By Guest Columnist RUSSELL MCMURRY, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation
Transportation infrastructure plays a pivotal role in driving Georgia’s economy, supporting community growth and maintaining Georgia’s position as the No. 1 state in the U.S. to do business. It also makes Georgia more attractive as a home to prospective new business operations like Amazon’s second headquarters, as well as those in the freight and logistics industry and our largest industry, agribusiness.
The Georgia Department of Transportation takes its responsibility for managing the nation’s 10th-largest transportation network very seriously, and we work diligently to ensure it meets the needs of all Georgians. GDOT focuses on innovation, safety, sustainability and mobility to provide well-maintained roads and bridges. But that is just the beginning.
The typical one-way commute time between home and work in metro Atlanta has grown by 30 seconds in the seven-year period ending in 2016, according to the latest report from the U.S Census Bureau. The proportion of workers who commuted by public transit declined during the period in Fulton and DeKalb counties, the core of MARTA’s service district, the report showed.
Randall O’Toole is at it again. Just as MARTA, Atlanta and possibly DeKalb County seem poised to help fund a transit line to the Emory University area, O’Toole – one of the nation’s outspoken critics of transit and smart growth policies – is out with new reports saying the transit era is over.
By Guest Columnist DAVID SUITTS, founder of Unite For Kids Atlanta
When people ask why I care about early childhood development, I think back to when I first thought I could maybe teach.
There’s a Youtube video of that summer: I’m filming and talking at three girls, none whom could be older than 6 years.
Metro Atlanta commuters can find solace in a factoid nestled in a report released Thursday by the Georgia Ports Authority. Some 50,000 trucks a year are to be removed from the region’s highways once an inland port served by rail opens next year in Chatsworth, officials say.
Atlanta is moving forward with an ambitious program to improve the safety of cyclists and pedestrians as they interact with vehicles along burgeoning Memorial Drive. The project starts about a half-mile east of the state Capitol and extends about a quarter-mile.
