The Atlanta Regional Commission emailed its "10 Facts about the Regional Transportation Referendum" on Monday morning. The 10 points are listed below.
- Low spending and high congestion: Georgia ranks 48th in the nation in transportation spending per capita, and ranks 4th in total hours the average commuter spends in on the road each day.
- Little room for expansion: Without additional funding, about 70 percent of metro Atlanta’s scheduled transportation dollars for the next 30 years will be spent on maintaining our current transportation network, leaving little room for expansion.
- Congestion will increase as revenues decrease: Congestion will get worse as the region continues to grow – by some three million more people in the next 25 years. Meanwhile, gas tax revenues will continue to decline as cars become more fuel-efficient.
- Money stays here: All monies generated here by the 10-year, regional transportation referendum would stay in metro Atlanta and be invested in high-priority projects throughout our 10 counties, from interchange improvements at I-285 and GA 400, to road and safety improvements, to a new light rail line from the Lindbergh MARTA station to the Clifton Corridor.
- Positive return on investment: The economic impact over time on the Atlanta region would be far greater than the 1996 Olympics. The referendum investment would result in a $34.8 billion increase in gross regional product in the Atlanta region by 2040. That’s a 4-to-1 return on investment.
- Job creation and retention: Some 200,000 jobs would be created or retained through the build-out of these new transportation projects. The positive economic effect equates to approximately 7,100 jobs each year from 2013 through 2040.
- Business and workforce development opportunities: Policies for strong small business and minority contracting and workforce development efforts have been developed and adopted by key agencies responsible for the project build-out.
- Cost savings to commuters: Commuters spend an average of $924 each year due to traffic congestion. Collectively, the time and fuel savings generated by referendum projects would allow residents to save $9.2 billion by 2040.
- Decrease in travel delays: Travellers will enjoy a 24% average decrease in future travel delays on roadways improved through road widening, new construction and improved interchanges.
- Air quality benefits: Air quality improvement would be equal to taking 72,000 vehicles off the roads daily.
Do any of these 10 points sway how you will vote on TSPLOST? Tell us why or why not in the comments below.
1. No matter how much politicians get, they will ask for more. 2. Georgia’s excise tax is currently 7.5 cents a gallon. 3. Georgia adds a 3 percent tax on sales of motor fuel that is classified as motor use fuel tax. 4. In 2008, the Georgia excise tax and both sales taxes combined produced an effective rate of 21.2 cents per gallon. 5. Federal excise tax on gasoline is 18.4 cents per gallon. 6. The total tax on Diesel in Georgia is 39.1 cents per gallon. 7. The United States Highway Trust Fund is a transportation fund which receives money from a federal fuel tax of 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon of diesel fuel and related excise taxes. 8. The 1956 Trust Fund Act directed federal fuel tax to the fund to be used exclusively for highway construction and maintenance.
2/3 of the project money goes to a train/bus from Acworth to MARTA in Atlanta we can't use. And not a single project that benefits South Cobb. Vote NO on TSPLOST.
Also, if this referendum is not passed then transit options such as the GRTA Xpress will be in danger of eliminating its services, hence putting more cars on the roadways. This is the time to make an impactful change on the transportation infrastructure of Atlanta for the better.
VOTE NO and send the whole durn thing back to the legislature and in the mean time get rid of all those folk who pushed it through the house and are now going, It's not what I thought it was - ie they didn't even read the bill and pushed it through anyway.A NO VOTE in every one of the ten Counties is what is needed to send a clear message to the State House. The folk in South Georgia are not even going to vote it in.
A few of the projects in Cobb is widening Thornton road. Why????? Roswell Road going to Marietta. Why????? No mention of I-75 at I-285, I-20 at I-285 on the west side. And what about the maintenance after all this money is spent? I have already voted "NO" ! ! ! ! !
And how do they get to the 200,000 jobs number? Taking 7100 times the 28 years they talk about and come up with 200,000? Like all of those 7100 jobs will be going to someone new each year?
What plan would I support? I support that the Federal Gas tax money that Mr. Black above mentioned at 18.4 cents per gallon, that we pay and it goes to Washington so the bureaucrats can dole it back out to which ever state they like and who lobbies them the best. I want that money to stay here in Georgia where it should. I am not blindly going to follow the people who put this referendum together just because it took them 2 years of work to do it. IMO, they did not do a good job and needs to start over. And I bet you a dime to a dollar that there were many special interest groups throwing money around to get what would put money in their pockets. IE. Highway contractors for the roads, unions for MARTA work (since you have to pay Davis-Bacon wages which are at the high union scale), and the big General Contractors.
As for projects in Cobb you should check out the link below. http://www.georgiatrend.com/Untie_Atlanta.pdf There are plenty of Cobb projects and the bill requires a certain percentage be spent in the county where it is raised. As for whether or not Cobb should support Atlanta projects, please know that Cobb is reliant on a prosperous Atlanta. We are a region, not just individual counties. The state of Atlanta’s transportation is an important factor for businesses and tourist which brings much economic development not only to the City of Atlanta, but to the surrounding region. Cobb County is not an economic island and surely you can see the importance of regional transportation.
I don't think Cobb is reliant on a prosperous Atlanta. The city of Atlanta is being run into the ground, mismanaged, and if they didn't apply for federal grant money all the time, they would really be in trouble. City of Atlanta is a JOBS program and Atlanta is just a name. I have seen the Cobb project list and again, how are most of these going to help traffic congestion where it gets backed up all the time? Do you ride MARTA? I do not and will not, it scares the hell out of me. It goes nowhere I want to go but to the Braves stadium, and still would not ride it.