Authority Reduces Variable Rate Debt by Almost $60 Million The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Board of Directors voted to approve a refunding of $176.8 million of variable rate bonds replaced with fixed rate bonds and a new issue of $117.5 million of variable rate debt. MARTA General Manager & CEO Jeffrey Parker announced, […]
Tag: transportation
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Ga. 400 express lanes a long shot for federal funding, until $184 million grant announced
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.
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Let’s use technology to better address metro Atlanta’s 21st century traffic ills
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.
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Future of mobility in metro Atlanta to be designed in Chamblee, Gwinnett County
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.
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Chamblee, Gwinnett County win grants to devise smart transportation technology
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.
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Infrastructure is key to Georgia’s economy
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.
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Atlanta to take a few weeks to consider rules on the shared vehicles that some cities call a nuisance
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.
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Four decades of the Old Fourth Ward, seen from my office window
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.
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Enough already: GRTA, SRTA, MARTA, GDOT, ARC…and now….the ATL
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.
Posted inThought Leader, Transit
MARTA TO ASSUME OPERATIONS OF ATLANTA STREETCAR THIS SUMMER
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) will assume ownership of the Atlanta Streetcar from the City of Atlanta on July 1. The four-car light rail system will be under MARTA’s rail operations. MARTA is currently focused on four transition objectives; enhancing and fortifying safety and security on the streetcar, implementing a ridership growth program, reducing […]
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Northside commute worsened by closure of flex lanes on Ga. 400, north of I-285
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.
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$100 million in transit funding, no clarity on who will divvy up the money
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.
Posted inThought Leader, Transit
MARTA THROWS BLOCK PARTY AT ASHBY STATION
Mural Dedication Features Food, Music, Arts & Crafts The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) celebrated the completion of the Ashby Station mural with a block party on Saturday, March 24 from 2 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. The event, sponsored by WonderRoot, The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Invest Atlanta, and MARTA’s Artbound program was […]
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Atlanta’s potholes: Repair crews added while some consider new ‘pothole posse’
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.
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A legislative leg up for Atlanta’s regional transit system
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.
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ARC Sets the Record Straight on Metro Atlanta Traffic
You may have read about the recent Inrix Global Traffic Scorecard, which ranked metro Atlanta’s traffic congestion as the 8th-worst globally. While that made headlines here, there’s a lot more to the story: Atlanta fares much better using another Inrix measure The Inrix report also ranks regions by percentage of driving time spent in congestion. In […]
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Georgia’s highways rank 18th in nation as higher spending improves system
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.
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Lawmakers finishing details on possible 13-county metro transit proposal
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.
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The year ahead in Georgia transportation
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.
Posted inThought Leader, Transit
MARTA SAVES MILLIONS DURING BOND REFUNDING
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Board of Directors approved a resolution to refund $56.8 million of its series 2012A bonds, saving the Authority $6.5 million in net present value of future interest costs. MARTA’s average interest savings is $588,000 per year. MARTA moved quickly on this partial refunding to take advantage of favorable […]
