Cobb BRT Resurrected

Chair Lee eyes March 2016 for BRT bond referendum by Jon Gillooly

 

MARIETTA --- County Chairman Tim Lee said Wednesday he was considering calling for a bond referendum during the March 2016 presidential preference primary to help pay for a bus rapid transit system.

 

The reason for asking voters to consider approving a bond issuance on that date, Lee said, is because it's the county's next scheduled election after Tuesday.

 

"It separates it into its own entity, and people can evaluate it on its own merit versus whether or not it's combined with another project that we may need or may not need, so it gives the ability to the community to do a thumbs up or thumbs down on the concept of transportation on the 41

corridor," Lee said.

 

*Multi-million dollar studies*

 

The BRT proposal has been a yearslong effort in the making.

 

In September 2012, Faye DiMassimo, the county's transportation director, unveiled the results of the county's $1.8 million "Northwest Corridor Alternatives Analysis" study led by Marietta-based Croy Engineering. The report recommended building a $1.1 billion bus system connecting

Kennesaw State University with Midtown Atlanta.

 

The county then chose to pay Cary, North Carolina-based Kimley-Horn and Associates $3 million for an environmental study of that proposed route.

 

DiMassimo and Lee announced in January the study had lowered the $1.1 billion estimated cost to $494 million. The chief cost savings came from eliminating the dozen grade separations --- bridges and tunnels --- planned along Cobb Parkway that would allow the buses to pass through traffic without stopping. Traffic lights would be adjusted to allow the buses to pass through intersections unimpeded, they said.

 

During a joint meeting between the county's mayors and commissioners in June, Lee made an impassioned plea to include a $100 million earmark for the BRT on the proposed SPLOST list voters will consider Tuesday.

 

The earmark, Lee argued, would allow the county to draw upon federal funds to pay for the rest of the project. But even Lee's strongest ally on the commission, Helen Goreham, objected, fearing it would endanger the sales tax referendum. Lee then agreed to strike the earmark from the

list at the commissioners' request.

 

*Alerting the feds*

 

Shortly after that meeting, DiMassimo contacted the U.S. Department of Transportation.

 

In a July 9 email to Keith Melton with the U.S. Department of

Transportation, DiMassimo wrote Cobb's "request for approval to enter Project Development for the 'Connect Cobb' project is slated for submission through U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson to the FTA in October 2014. Cobb will continue station development and operating plan development through 2015. Previously, Cobb had planned to secure local funding through its SPLOST beginning 2016."

 

DiMassimo went on to state Cobb would be unable to include the project in the SPLOST referendum because the environmental assessment wouldn't be completed by July 22, the date commissioners had to vote on the proposed SPLOST list.

 

"Alternately, Cobb County intends to seek necessary local match funding sources through a bond referendum in the March 2016 Presidential Preference Primary with a late 2015 New Starts application submission for 2016 funding consideration," DiMassimo wrote.

 

She closed by expressing her appreciation to the Federal Transit Administration's "support and direction as we continue to advance this important infrastructure development and implementation."

 

Lee said Wednesday before a final decision is made to call for a 2016 BRT bond referendum, a number of steps need to be taken.

 

"We have to vet that out with the board whether or not they even want to pursue BRT anymore," Lee said. "And if we want to pursue BRT, is this the way we want to go about it, or do we want to break the project down? So there are so many things that have to be addressed, so this whole

thing was taken off the table with the SPLOST, and we're going to go forward with the SPLOST as is. She just needed to let the feds know of our decision and that's all that is," Lee said of DiMassimo's email.

 

Source:<http://mdjonline.com/bookmark/18901358-Jon_Gillooly>

October 30, 2014 04:00 AM

 

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Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - Chair Lee eyes March 2016 for BRT bond referendum

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