Transportation Priorities

Revenue Problem or Spending Problem?

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