The MDJ (Marietta Daily Journal – Cobb/Atlanta
GA) has reported that the General Assembly intends to work in the coming
session to find solutions for the shortfall in funding for transportation
projects. The General Assembly has created the Joint Study Committee on
Critical Transportation Funding Infrastructure for Georgia, and former State
Representative Ed Lindsey was appointed as one of the two “citizen”
members. Mr. Lindsey and others are advocating for more money and new sources
of dedicated funding for transportation. A guest column appeared in the MDJ
December 15, authored by Mr. Lindsey.
I have a sense that the problem for
transportation projects is not exclusively a matter of inadequate funding.
There’s also the spending side of the story, a subject that seems to have
escaped notice by just about everyone in government. In short, how are we
spending our money presently and what do we get for our money?
There are abundant examples. An MDJ news
story from December 12: the Executive Director of the Cumberland
Community Improvement District (CCID) expresses concern that, because of
limited state funding, the CCID must delay their $1,350,000 project to redesign
the Cumberland Boulevard Bridge. This “redesign” is a “streetscaping” project
in which additional steel structure will be added to the bridge, along with
lighting, for purely decorative purposes. That’s $1.35 million for purely
decorative purposes. The benefit to transportation will be zero (0).
The planned revisions to the Windy Hill Road
bridge for the Diverging Diamond interchange will include similar decorative
steel work. It’s part of the aesthetic identity of the Cumberland CID. That
cost will be substantial but unknowable because it’s buried in the big
interchange project.
Cobb leaders have made clear that their
absolute number one favorite transportation proposal is the construction of the
Bus Rapid Transit line along Cobb Parkway. Despite the official passion for this
project, no one has ever articulated any actual transportation need that it
might address.
MDJ story, May 25, 2012: Todd Long, deputy
Georgia DOT Commissioner, is guest speaker at a groundbreaking ceremony for the
Noonday Creek Trail ($11.6 million). Commissioner Long told the assembled
dignitaries that GDOT’s share of the cost of this project cost was “being funded by 18.4 cents per gallon
federal gasoline taxes, which is endangered because people are cutting back on
driving and using more fuel efficient vehicles. He said passing the 1 percent
July 31 Transportation Investment Act referendum would help free up federal gas
tax money so it can be used on projects like trails.” Mr. Long continued, “We’re able to build now, but in the future, projects like this will be
very hard to build because there won’t be enough money to build them….keep that
in mind as you cast your vote this summer”, referring to the T-SPLOST
referendum.
This is transportation spending as it exists
today.
Mr. Lindsey suggests five factors that “need to be adopted in determining which
transportation projects should be at the top of the list for implementation:
(1) congestion mitigation; (2) economic development; (3) accessibility; (4)
safety; and (5) environmental quality.”
The Urban Planners and politicians who are
typically passionate boosters of any form of public transportation will find
that these five factors are perfectly matched to their favorite form of transit,
whether Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), or any rail transit system. Fixed guideway
transportation is almost certainly the least cost-effective use of money for
transportation needs. Yet, this is exactly where many of the special interests
want to go with new funding. We already spend millions each year subsidizing
CCT bus service and millions more of precious transportation dollars for bike
trails, ten-foot-wide sidewalks, and ‘streetscaping’, none of which provide any
measurable value in meeting the transportation needs of the people of Cobb
County or this state.
Declining revenue from gas taxes is not the
only problem. State and local governments have adopted a very expansive view of
“transportation”, so that no pet project goes unfunded.
The legislature has already created the Joint
Study Committee on funding. Perhaps they can appoint a second committee: The
Joint Study Committee for Making Every Dollar Count. Before teeing up new
taxes, let’s try spending our limited resources on projects that provide real
value in helping people get to destinations they are actually trying to reach.
Source:
Larry Savage, 4226 Columns Drive, Marietta, GA 30067, 770-690-0907 MDJ Letter
to Editor, Submitted 12/19/14
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