By Guest Columnist BRANDON SUTTON, a member of the Hulsey Yard Study Committee
2020 will no doubt be remembered as a time of unprecedented disruption to the lives and businesses of countless people throughout the country, including right here in Atlanta. In a macro sense, the world has changed dramatically. In a micro sense, the lives and daily choices of people everywhere are in a state of suspended animation.
Funding for a Complete Streets project along 5th Street in Midtown, new roads at the General Motors redevelopment site in DeKalb County, and a smart corridor installation in Gwinnett County were included in a basket of 19 mobility projects funded by the state.
MARTA’s Campbellton Road expansion plan is expected to change the nature of the roadway from the Oakland City Station to I-285, a distance of about 5.7 miles. The plan for how that is to happen is to be completed within nine months.
Atlanta City Councilmember Amir Farokhi’s experiment with participatory budgeting garnered almost 3,500 online votes. That means nearly 3,500 individuals responded to an offer to play a direct role in deciding how to spend $1 million in public funds for transportation.
MARTA’s potential partnership with Portman Holdings to develop the North Avenue Station could be the first in a new era of promoting transit oriented development around its rail stations.
DeKalb County has no plans to ask voters this year to raise the sales tax to pay for transit expansion, according to DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond’s office. The decision leaves unfunded projects including the one to serve the area at Emory University.
As Gwinnett County seeks to amend the region’s transit plan on May 27, in advance of a possible transit referendum, federal funding for transit expansion is not even mentioned in the latest pandemic relief plan pending before Congress.
Google has made public a treasure trove of never-before-seen proprietary data that could help decision makers reopen the economy safely in metro Atlanta. Google’s report shows changes in categories of places people visit – whether they’re going to work, buy groceries or walk the dog, and so forth.
The economic damage dealt by the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue to put a strain on government programs that were mapped out long before the world began slipping into a recession.
Metro Atlanta transit agencies are to receive $371 million from the federal coronavirus aid package. It’s part of a total package of $448 million in federal transit assistance headed to Georgia to help offset the economic losses related to response to the cornoavirus, according to the legislation.
Norfolk Southern could sell its new headquarters in Midtown five years after the lease begins in 2021, the company said in a recent financial disclosure. Atlanta’s development arm expects the company to stay in place 10 years as part of the $600 million package it provided the company.
Georgia’s foray into the next generation of road-building projects is proving so successful that the analysts have raised the credit rating on bonds that helped pay for it. Strong revenues result in fewer concerns about Georgia’s ability to repay a federal loan that helped fund the tollway in Cobb and Cherokee counties.
With the deadline Monday for bids to complete a road project on Peachtree Road in Buckhead, the stage is set for the fulfillment of more than a decade of expectations when construction is to be complete, in mid 2021.
Metro Atlanta commuting won’t be much be much worse — or much better.
When it comes to children riding bicycles, just one in 17 respondents to a survey think kids are safe riding next to Grant Park, on Cherokee Avenue. Just one in five thinks the corridor is safe for children and seniors to walk.
Sandy Springs’ efforts to build a fire station, add sidewalks and relieve traffic congestion in a high-traffic area near the City Springs municipal complex illustrate the challenges of retooling urban spaces when private owners object to the plan.
Transit funding is poised to emerge in 2020 as a major discussion in Atlanta, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. In addition, Atlanta is slated to try again to revamp traffic movement in the central business district, regulate e-scooters and possibly reduce the city speed limit to 25 mph – even as a push for transit on the Atlanta BeltLine remains in the mix.
A glimmer of hope is one key component of the 30-year plan for spending $174 billion to improve mobility in metro Atlanta.
By Guest Columnist FRED O. SMITH JR., a founding member of BeltLine Rail Now
Trust is a strange thing. It is easy to lose. And once lost, it is difficult to regain. When it comes to transit in this city, an imminent decision by the Atlanta Regional Commission and MARTA officials will help determine whether they retain the citizens’ trust, or squander it. If it is squandered, this could negatively impact transportation in this city for generations. The draft of the 2020 Atlanta Region’s Plan Regional Transportation Plan is in its final public comment phase at the Atlanta Regional Commission, and it will not be revised again for another four years.
Land acquisition is about to begin in and southeast of Inman Park for two awaited projects – the pedestrian corridor along Highland Avenue, near Inman Park Village, and the East Side Trolley Greenway project that’s to stretch from the Atlanta BeltLine’s Eastside Trail and connect with an existing PATH trail near Coan Park.
