Gov. Nathan Deal sought Wednesday to cast a hopeful tone over the future of transportation funding.
The current reality is grim. For starters, as of June 1, Georgia is facing a $367.2 million shortfall in necessary federal transportation funds in the federal fiscal year that ends Oct. 1, the state’s chief engineer told GRTA’s board of directors.
The Georgia Legislature’s committee report on transportation funding does not appear to acknowledge the one financing method being employed to ease two major bottlenecks in metro Atlanta.
The words, “public private partnership,” seem to appear nowhere in 12 potential solutions named in the report.
MARTA wants to engage a developer to build a live-work-play community in the 2-year-old city of Brookhaven, where a proposed 30-year plan appears to embrace dense urban development.
MARTA is seeking developers for its Brookhaven Station. MARTA intends to develop homes, offices and shops on almost half the station’s sparsely used lot, and replace those parking spaces in structured parking.
The project may not be easy, according to a MARTA report that states: “The positive involvement of [Brookhaven and DeKalb County] could be a challenge to bring about. It will take careful negotiation and cooperation, of which ARC [Atlanta Regional Commission] could help facilitate. The largest hurdle, however, could be the participation of private money lenders.”
As Clayton County prepares to vote this autumn on joining MARTA, a recent report from the Atlanta Regional Commission shines new light on the number of potential riders who reside in Clayton County.
The ARC’s unofficial population estimates show the county added 1,000 residents from 2013 to 2014. That was the smallest increase among the 10 counties tracked by the ARC report.
Clayton’s population shifts will be among the factoids that will bear watching as the campaign for the 1 percent sales tax gears up after Labor Day. Clayton voters rejected a proposed regional 1 percent transportation sales tax that was on the ballot in July 2012.
The railroad that owns the corridor where the proposed commuter rail line would be built in Clayton County has just posted record profits for the second quarter of 2014.
Norfolk Southern’s financial situation warrants attention as Clayton County voters prepare to vote in November on a proposed 1 percent transit sales tax. Likewise with some of its corporate decisions, such as one last week to sue the state of Maryland to block the public release of information about shipments of crude oil.
The future of commuter rail in Clayton County depends largely on whether Norfolk Southern agrees to share its existing freight corridor, presuming voters approve the proposed 1 percent sales tax.
A new transit website serving metro Atlanta is an example of local agencies responding to an idea many view as sensible, and which results from legislation that wasn’t enacted by the General Assembly.
In the first two weeks after its very soft launch, on July 1, ATLtransit.org has attracted slightly more than 1,000 views.
The website intends to help transit riders plan and pay for trips that involve riding one or more of the region’s transit systems. Four transit systems and ARC decided to build the site even though the Legislature did not vote for the concept brought forward by Sen. Brandon (R-Alpharetta).
State lawmakers who oversee MARTA expressed a few reservations Tuesday as they generally applauded the potential of MARTA extending its service into Clayton County.
“This is a major step forward for transit in the region,” said state Rep. Mike Jacobs (R-Brookhaven), who chairs MARTOC, the Legislature’s MARTA oversight committee. “Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come in terms of transit in metro Atlanta.”
Norfolk Southern appears to be in a solid negotiating position as advocates of Clayton County’s potential transit system prepare to ask the company to allow MARTA to operate passenger trains on Norfolk Southern’s freight tracks.
A MARTA study shows that $185 million could be saved if Norfolk Southern allows use of its freight line for passenger rail service. Norfolk Southern has sent a letter to MARTA that raised a red flag over the notion that passenger service could begin in seven years at the price contemplated in the MARTA study.
The issue will come to a head if Clayton County voters approve in November a 1 percent transit tax. Clayton’s Board of Commissioners voted Saturday to place the referendum on the ballot.
The finances of the planned expansion of MARTA service in Clayton County gained clarity after Clayton’s Board of Commissioners voted Saturday to put a proposed 1 percent transit tax on the November ballot.
That’s because the 1 percent tax rate activates a feasibility study by MARTA, which envisioned only the 1 percent tax rate and not the 0.5 percent rate the board approved this week. The cost of rail expansion remains a significant variable in MARTA’s plan.
An interfaith prayer vigil on Monday is slated to begin an hour before Clayton County’s board of commissioners is to convene to consider putting a sales tax referendum for transportation on the November ballot.
The November time frame for the transit vote is of the essence for its advocates. If not called this year, the proposed transit tax will run into the planned 2015 referendum to extend Clayton’s existing special purpose local option sales tax (SPLOST).
Clayton commissioners have until July 1 to call the transit referendum. The date is contained in a bill approved this year by the General Assembly. The SPLOST vote has not been scheduled, according to Clayton’s website.
Clayton County commissioners could vote as early as Monday to call a referendum on a sales tax for public transportation, possibly putting it on the county’s ballot in November.
The commission on Thursday called a special meeting for June 23 at 6 p.m. The purpose is to, “discuss matters pertaining to public transportation in the county.”
MARTA GM Keith Parker and county officials reportedly met Thursday to continue discussions. The only question facing commissioners seems to be how much of a sales tax to impose – 1 percent or a half-percent. A study presented to the commission Tuesday identified the projected levels of service each tax rate would provide.
A Wall Street credit rating agency has raised MARTA’s rating in advance of the system’s plan to sell $96 million in bonds on June 26.
The rating action states MARTA’s reliance on sales tax revenues as both an asset and a liability. Moody’s Investors Service cited as an asset MARTA’s gross pledge of its 1 percent sales tax, and as a liability the historic volatility of sales tax revenues – revenues that recent Georgia laws have reduced.
While any upgrade in credit is positive, Moody’s warned investors of the danger that MARTA could again raid its savings account to keep the system afloat – as was the case during the depth of the great recession.
Georgians and residents of six other states want Congress to end its stalemate at least long enough to approve transportation funding before the existing pot of money runs out this summer, according to results of a poll released Wednesday.
The results could give federal lawmakers the political cover needed to provide federal funding for roads, transit and rail – a sector that historically enjoyed bipartisan support before gridlock reached its current state.
“People just want Congress to take action, and transportation is a no-brainer,” said Margie Omero, managing director of Purple Insights, the polling firm. “It’s not a partisan divide, at least among Georgians.”
The Atlanta Regional Commission’s board of directors voted Wednesday to ask the state’s congressional delegation to resolve the impasse over the nation’s transportation funding program and keep transportation money flowing to Georgia.
The ARC board acted in advance of the July 1 deadline imposed by the state for approval of new transportation projects. The Georgia Department of Transportation swiftly endorsed the resolution approved by ARC’s board.
“We support the action of the ARC,” said Natalie Dale, GDOT’s liaison for government relations. “We’ve had similar conversations with our congressional delegation.”
The spirit of regional leadership that emerged during the planning for the 2012 transportation sales tax referendum remains intact and is evident in the region’s new short- and long-term transportation plans, according to transportation officials.
“This is the first post-referendum Transportation Improvement Program [and] we did this very well,” said Jannine Miller, GRTA’s former executive director and newest board member.
“It was very political a long time ago,” said GRTA board member J.T. Williams. “The county chair got to say, ‘These are my two projects,’ and it didn’t matter what the projects were. That is a thing of the past. We have to get the best bang for the buck.”
Bicycling, walking and transit are getting more attention as metro Atlanta planners prepare to adopt the proposed update of the region’s short- and long-term transportation plans. The plans are to be approved within 30 days.
“We will see this discussion grow more robust: How can we ensure a transit network and pedestrian network that improves moving people to regional job centers,” the ARC’s David Haynes said at Wednesday’s GRTA board meeting.
Some degree of clarity is emerging in metro Atlanta’s cauldron of transportation planners, managers, and planning.
GRTA Executive Director Jannine Miller visited the Capitol Thursday to say her goodbyes to lawmakers and introduce them to Kirk Fjelstul, her deputy director who was named by GRTA’s board as acting director. Down Mitchell Street from the Capitol, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed remains without a transportation planning director as the city tries to figure out how to realign Martin Luther King Jr. Drive around the future Falcons stadium and implement its bike share program.
The centerpiece of Atlanta’s plan to start its first bike-share program is slated to be approved Monday by the Atlanta City Council. Bikes are to be rolling within a year.
The plan is for a private vendor to provide at least 500 rental bikes for use during a five-year contract. The two start-up areas are in Buckhead and Midtown/Downtown Atlanta, according to the legislation. Rental prices have not been released.
Atlanta is requiring each bike to be equipped with an array of comfort and safety features: At least seven gears, fenders, chain guards, luggage basket or rack, and a self-generating headlight. Bikes reservations will be handled via the Internet.
The air in Atlanta and Washington suddenly seems filled with talk about creative methods of financing to pay for repairs to roads, bridges, sidewalks and other so-called transportation infrastructure.
At the state Capitol this week, a new consortium announced it was backing a revision of the TSPLOST approach to upgrading transportation. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, in his inaugural address this month, cited his plans to ask voters in 2015 to approve borrowing up to $250 million for infrastructure improvements.
President Obama, during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, called on Congress to approve new funding for roads and ports by this summer. On Jan. 16, a bill to create an infrastructure bank was submitted in the Senate by a bipartisan group. A similar proposal was filed in November in the Senate.
By Tom Baxter
A coalition of groups from both sides of the 2012 battle over the regional transportation referendum has agreed on a set of points, which they say could break the current logjam over transportation planning.
The former opponents said they all could back a transportation strategy that allows flexibility in letting counties and municipalities to band together, under the mantra of “one project at a time,” to identify needed transportation projects and local SPLOSTs to fund them.
Supporting the new approach at a Tuesday press conference were Michael Sullivan and Seth Millican of the Georgia Transportation Alliance, which supported the 2012 TSPLOST; Debbie Dooley of the Atlanta TEA Party, and Neill Herring and Colleen Kiernan of the Sierra Club, two organizations that had opposed the measure.
