The Transportation Executive Committee met yesterday in their first attempt to finalize the project list that will be put before voters next year when they go to the polls and decide whether they want to pay another penny in sales tax for transportation projects around the 12-county metro region.

As Mayor Bill Floyd said according to the AJC, “We’ve gotten to the crunch point.”

At yesterday’s meeting, the Atlanta Regional Commission provided the 6-member, 5-voting Transportation Roundtable Executive Committee with three sets of recommendations for the 2012 vote – one with an emphasis on roads(pdf), one with an emphasis on transit (pdf)and one that was “balanced” (pdf).  While no final decisions were made yesterday – one sticking point according to Green Building Chronicle has to do with how transit operating expenses are being calculated – there’s already a definite “direction” being taken by the Exec Committee in whittling down the list.  The AJC article on the subject says it best…

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After meeting for the very first time today, the group created under Georgia’s Transportation Investment Act to come up with a list of projects for the Atlanta region – the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable – announced its elected 5-member Executive Committee.

Along with Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson, Kennesaw Mayor Mark Mathews, Henry County Commission Chair B.J. Mathis and Douglas County Commission Chair Tom Worthan, is Decatur’s own Mayor Bill Floyd!

The Executive Committee plays an important role in the selection of Atlanta transportation projects that could potentially be funded with a one-cent sales tax.

The Georgia Department of Transportation is scheduled to submit a “wish list” to the Exec. Committee for review some time during the Spring of next year.  The 5 executive committee members will then be tasked with selecting the projects which will be brought before the full 21-member Roundtable for a vote in August 2011.  The final Roundtable vote is scheduled to occur “no later than October 15, 2011.”

More info on House Bill 277 and the process of selecting a list of projects that will be put before voters in 2012 can be found HERE.