Official: Long overdue strategic planning under way for state transportation

by Brennan Robison

Expect to pay more to by-pass rush hour traffic in the years to come. Changing HOV lanes to HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lanes is just one possible idea to come out of strategic planning underway at the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. Others include a tax based on the number of miles you drive, says GRTA Executive Director Dick Anderson.

He laments how Georgia let our transportation problems get this bad by falling to next to last place in the country in per capita investment in transportation, beating only Tennessee.

"Not only have we underinvested, we have under managed," Anderson told the Buckhead Rotary Club Monday.

A new strategic transportation plan being developed by a consultant is due to the Georgia General Assembly by December 31. Anderson says the initial analysis suggests $90 billion to $140 billion in new transportation projects will deliver a 5-to-1 return on the investment, creating 320,000 jobs and $590 billion in GDP growth.

Anderson says the benefits to metro Atlanta will come roughly equally from three types of projects:

1. Demand management – For example, converting HOV to HOT, and a mileage tax w/ congestion-related pricing
2. Infrastructure expansion – A tunnel or second level for the Downtown Connector
3. Coordinated development – The building more affordable housing near work centers