Transportation planners overlooked one aspect of Atlanta’s convention industry – the people who attend – and that evidently contributed to Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ decision to halt the first step in a plan aimed at making Downtown more pleasant for pedestrians. In addition, the mayor ordered a review of the entire Downtown mobility plan by the city’s newly approved Transportation Department, which is to be functional by late 2020.
Tag: transportation
Posted inLatest News
Not all aboard with new philosophy of mobility in Downtown Atlanta
A new philosophy of mobility in Downtown Atlanta is to be ready for use in three years. Not everyone is on board. The Atlanta City Council on Monday issued a split decision, 11-4, in favor of the first phase of the concept – to convert part of Baker Street from a one-way to a two-way street.
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Downtown Atlanta traffic: Baker Street conversion part of sweeping proposal to reshape mobility
A significant vote on part of the sweeping proposal to “revolutionize the way we move through Downtown Atlanta” into 2030 is on the agenda Monday, and the Atlanta City Council is slated to approve this step in a plan fostered by the group of influential business leaders, Central Atlanta Progress.
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Atlanta’s new DOT to be one-stop shop for everything from transit planning to pothole repair
Atlanta residents are to be allowed to voice their thoughts about how the city’s newly created Department of Transportation goes about its business – including transit planning. Late 2020 is the target date for the new department to be fully functional, according to legislation approved Monday by the Atlanta City Council.
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Transit funding bill could mean money for region; passage seems iffy, at best
The outlook is bright for transit funding in a spending bill that on Thursday cleared a U.S. House Appropriations subcommittee. However, chances that it has a prayer of becoming law have crumbled amid the latest round of discord over the Democrats’ calls for investigations into President Trump.
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Deadlines near for public comment on mobility planning by Cobb County, ARC
Next week is the final meeting for public comment on Cobb County’s proposed long-range mobility plan. The plan is to include recommendations on potential transit expansion.
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Northwest Corridor: Toll revenues, peak speed, traffic trips exceed expectations
Commuter response to the recently opened toll lanes along the Northwest Corridor is above expectations as drivers use the toll lanes that run adjacent to the highway system in Cobb and Cherokee counties, according to a report by Moody’s Investors Service.
Posted inColumns
Congestion pricing reduces travel times, improves quality of life
By Guest Columnist ERIC GANTHER, a mobility planner in metro Atlanta
Congestion pricing manages traffic with money instead of time. Without congestion pricing, we pay by sitting in traffic. With it, we pay a small fee and get a shorter trip. The HOT lanes on I-75 in Cobb and Clayton counties and on I-85 in Gwinnett County are examples of how this works, except with congestion pricing there are no “free” lanes.
Posted inColumns
Atlanta’s proposed transportation department to be a horn of plenty for mobility
Atlanta’s proposed stand-alone transportation department is expected to salvage a mobility system that’s so systemically broken the city has a long history of farming work to outside entities – including the Atlanta BeltLine, Midtown Alliance and Central Atlanta Progress.
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Gov. Kemp’s first act in charge of SRTA: Provide funding to fix washed out road
At $1.3 million, the grant isn’t big in the context of state highway funding. But Gov. Brian Kemp won praise from local residents for overseeing approval of funding to help restore a road washed out in February by a rockslide in Pickens County – just north of metro Atlanta.
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Atlanta races ahead of consultant’s advice in proposed Transportation Department
Atlanta’s proposal to create a freestanding Department of Transportation – reporting exclusively to the mayor – was part of the long-term plan suggested by the city’s management consultant, but only after a slow transition to a new department. The Atlanta City Council begins its deliberations on April 22.
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Unlike Atlanta, New York aims to improve transit with congestion tax, not sales tax
New York City has a new method to improve mobility – by charging a congestion tax to raise money to improve transit. Atlanta hasn’t broached this approach and appears committed to sales taxes to pay for regional transit improvements.
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ARC still accepting responses to 2019 Regional Commuter Survey
Metro Atlanta commuters who received a postcard about a survey being conducted by the Atlanta Regional Commission still have time to respond and enter to win one of 50 Amazon gift cards valued at $250. The deadline is Sunday, March 31.
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Hyperloops on Trump agenda as Gwinnett digests MARTA referendum results
As MARTA and its advocates in Gwinnett County look beyond the unofficial negative transit vote Tuesday, the Trump administration is looking forward to a transportation future replete with innovations including hyperloops and autonomous vehicles – albeit with no details about how to pay for it or the nation’s existing infrastructure needs.
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Atlanta mayor: Time for one city playbook on transportation, one consolidated department
The idea is to make a one-stop-shop, and better coordination, for all things road-related.
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Metro Atlanta ranks in top third of global rankings of traffic congestion
Moscow is ranked as the world’s worst city for traffic congestion, but motorists there travel 3 mph faster than drivers in Atlanta when it comes to the rate of travel on the last inner city mile, according to a report that could fuel conversation at Tuesday’s meeting about express lanes along Ga. 400.
Posted inColumns
Officially or not, MARTA and Gwinnett have a long history
When I worked as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal back the mid-‘70s, I would rise before dawn to catch a MARTA bus at the corner of North Decatur Road and Scott Boulevard, along with a crowd of commuters who drove every day from Lilburn and Lawrenceville, parked in the North DeKalb Mall lot and made the second leg of their commute by public transit. I recall those days to make the point that however the referendum turns out March 19, commuters from Gwinnett County have been riding MARTA for a long time, and over the years, forking over a share of the sales taxes that support it at Atlanta lunch counters and stores.
Posted inColumns
Building trails can build regional connectivity, state incentives would help
By Guest Columnist, MELODY L. HARCLERODE, executive director of the Sandy Springs Conservancy
Engineers from the Union Army noted a tributary in north Fulton County running into the Chattahoochee River as “Mans Cr” or “Mars Cr” on 1864 map. Now, the nonprofit Sandy Springs Conservancy is spearheading the development of the Marsh Creek Trail along Abernathy Road in partnership with the City of Sandy Springs as the initial stage of a city-wide trail system, envisioned as, “a beautiful amenity that can build physical and civic connections in Sandy Springs.”
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Breaking through the Perimeter: PATH400 to link BeltLine, areas north of I-285
A huge hurdle has been cleared that is to enable PATH400 to connect Atlanta’s BeltLine with Sandy Springs and, possibly if not eventually, the growing trails system north of I-285. As PATH Foundation noted of this first step: “Federal dollars are involved so it won’t happen overnight, but it’s coming.”
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These 50 Potential Projects Offer Vision for Region’s Transit Future
By: Paul Donsky, Atlanta Regional Commission Here’s an intriguing blank slate, sky’s-the-limit question: what should metro Atlanta’s transit network look like in the future? The kicker: You don’t have to factor in cost. Every few years, transportation planners and local officials come together to provide an answer, creating a detailed project list that serves as […]
