By: Ariel Hart
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
September 16, 2008
Link to original article
In the midst of a funding crisis, the state Department of Transportation is moving forward with plans for a road project that could cost more than $400 million - and wouldn’t add an inch of travel lane.
The project would transform all 44 miles of existing HOV lanes in Atlanta to toll or HOT lanes.
For those willing to spend the money, the proposal offers 44 miles of interstate with one guaranteed highway-speed lane at rush hour.
Large car pools could still ride free - but solo drivers and small car pools (perhaps as small as two or three people) would have to pay.
Officials won’t know the minimum car-pool size, the toll price or even the cost of the whole project until they study it more. They hope to start building the system in 2010, and could introduce it in phases.
It could cost from $414 million to $470 million.
“Yes we have a shortfall, which is why we are seeking federal assistance on the project,” DOT spokeswoman Ericka Davis said in an e-mail. “We can’t afford to give up.”
As for the price tag, at least half of the money would pay for the toll system itself. As much as 43 percent of the money would go to mass transit, including more buses and park-and-ride lots to ease congestion.
The rest of the money would pay for public outreach and for monitoring how well it works, according to the submission prepared by Georgia agencies and presented to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Under the plan, provisions would be made for people who ride mass transit or shift their commute to off-peak times to get credits toward free rides in the toll lane.
State DOT officials were limited in their response to requests for information.
“These questions are ahead of where we are in the process,” Davis said in an e-mail. “We are in the middle of working out the logistics of how this project can be developed, implemented and managed holistically.”
The state has already chosen vendors for some preliminary services and is in contract negotiations with the firms.
The Atlanta Regional Commission will be working with DOT to study computer models and put it out for 30 days of public comment, said Tom Weyandt, comprehensive planning chief at ARC.
The earliest the ARC board could hope to vote on the matter is December or January, Weyandt said.
“I also see no land mines here,” he said. “I think it will move forward expeditiously.”
The submission to the federal government indicates that 80 percent of the project would need federal funding.
Whether the start-up costs come from federal or state taxes, or private companies that are repaid with tolls, the ultimate source is individual taxpayers or drivers.
The state Transportation Board has already approved the general idea, and the state unsuccessfully applied in 2007 for federal grants for such a project on I-85 in Gwinnett County.
In a presentation at the Atlanta Regional Commission last week, DOT chief engineer Gerald Ross said, “We’re talking about the entire 44-mile system, not just one corridor. You’ve really got to be looking at the system.”
Although Georgia had lost that previous pass at a federal grant, “we will move forward because we’ve got to provide some solutions,” Ross said.
DOT Commissioner Gena Evans said she and Gov. Sonny Perdue’s transportation policy adviser met with U.S. DOT Secretary Mary Peters recently and discussed the more comprehensive proposal.
“Did she say she had $400 million to throw our way? You know that’s not going to happen, but she did say she’s very interested,” said Evans.
The Cost:
Toll system: $235.8 million
Public outreach/commuter credit: $18.1 million
Transit improvements: $204.3 million or $148.0 million
Performance and environmental monitoring: $12.5 million
Total: $470.7 million or $414.4 million
Source: Proposal by GDOT, State Road and Tollway Authority and other agencies based on preliminary estimates
