In a 5-0 vote, the 5-member Atlanta Transportation Roundtable Exec Committee – which included Mayor Bill Floyd – approved their final version of a regional transportation list yesterday.  The list will now go before the full 22 member roundtable for final approval by October 15th.

As Mayor Floyd pointed out at last night’s city commission meeting, the larger group could decide to throw out the executive committee’s suggestions and start over if they wanted.  However, Mayor Kasim Reed seems to think that’s not much of a possibility. From the Green Building Chronicle…

…Reed says the larger group will most likely go along with the Executive Committee’s proposals. “The Roundtable’s going to do just fine,” he told us.

The Final List can be found HERE in PDF form.

The Clifton Corridor MARTA line survived the round of last minute cuts unscathed, with $700 million allocated to the project, which is projected to cost $1.1 billion.  The other transit biggie for DeKalb is $225 million allocated to extend MARTA’s East Line from Indian Creek to Wesley Chapel Road near I-20.

 

Green Building Chronicle reports that the 5 member Atlanta Transportation Roundtable (which I like to call “Floyd & Co.”) allocated 58% of funding from the potential 1-cent sales tax to transit at this morning’s meeting.

However, the current project list is still $445 million over its $6.1 billion target, so some projects – be it road or rail – will need to be cut.  They plan to make those final cuts Monday at 1pm, according to the Chronicle.

Still on the list with a $700 million allocation is the Clifton Corridor line, which would mostly like have the largest potential impact on Decatur area residents, linking the Emory area to Lindbergh MARTA station with either light rail, heavy rail or a bus line.  Another new DeKalb project JUST added to the list is a $250 million down-payment to extend the MARTA blue line east past Indian Creek Station out I-20.

Here’s a PDF of the current project list, courtesy of the ARC.

In related news, Green Building Chronicle also reported yesterday from a Clifton Corridor public workshop last night and came back with a bunch of really interesting tidbits about the project, including which questions are still unanswered and which hurdles it still must be overcome.  Here’s a great little blurb…

The new line would break away from MARTA’s heavy rail line south of Lindbergh Station at the Armour Yard maintenance facility and follow an existing CSX right-of-way across I-85, Cheshire Bridge Road and Briarcliff Road, then on past the CDC, Emory and the VA Medical Center.

A key remaining decision is which technology to use: Heavy-rail would allow MARTA trains to be routed toward Emory on a spur, without requiring transfers. But heavy rail is more expensive and technically difficult, so it would have to stop at North Decatur and Clairmont roads. Most of a heavy rail line would likely be underground.

Light rail or bus-rapid transit would carry fewer passengers and would require MARTA rail riders to transfer at Lindbergh Station. But those two options would allow for more stops and could continue along Scott Boulevard toward the DeKalb Medical Center before hooking down to the Avondale Station. Most of light-rail or bus-rapid-transit line would likely be at grade.

The thorniest issue that came up at last night’s workshop revolved around the residential area between Cheshire Bridge Avenue and Briarcliff Road. Neighborhood organizations there actually favor the project — so long as it ends up being light-rail line, which would do more to serve the residents, rather than heavy rail, which would simply go under the neighborhoods and have fewer stops.

Also of note to those that have expressed concern that the project isn’t currently fully funded by the tax: the Chronicle notes that it’s not that farfetched to think that Emory and other big area employers might pick up part of the tab to have the line built.

No real surprise here.  But still it’s a huge hurdle for the Transportation Roundtable, who’s selecting the list of projects that will go before voters next fall. From the AJC…

DeKalb County politicians, activists and residents have united to fight a proposed penny sales tax for regional transportation plans unless the final project list gets trains running in south DeKalb.

So far, the 5.4-mile rail line to link the Indian Creek MARTA station to Wesley Chapel Road, known as the I-20 project, isn’t a transit priority for the roundtable executive committee that is recommending projects.

DeKalb leaders held a news conference before the committee’s meeting Tuesday to urge the I-20 project be added — or else.

Everybody wants a project to call their own, but there’s only $6.1 billion to go around.  Is there a happy medium here or is an all-inclusive list an impossibility?

Here’s something to chew on while you wait along the MARTA platform, traveling from Fulton to DeKalb and back again.

Cobb County held a telephone town hall meeting on Tuesday like the one DeKalb held last night, which Allison described in the previous post.   And guess what?  They showed preference for a rail project over a road project.  From the Mayretta Daily Journal…

A slim majority of poll respondents said connecting Cobb County to Atlanta via rail was more important than improving the Windy Hill Road and Interstate 75 intersection, though a quarter said neither of the two options took priority.

The poll was conducted during a telephone town hall regarding next year’s voter referendum for a 10-year, 1 percent sales tax to fund transportation projects in the 10-county metro Atlanta area. More than 16,000 Cobb residents participated.

Sure, pitting a single intersection against an entire rail line is sorta unfair, but still, more could’ve said neither was important, right?

So that “slim majority”.  Is that like 51%?

….during the call, a poll asked listeners “What is the most important for transportation investment that could be made in Cobb County?”

Just over 60 percent said connecting Cobb to Atlanta via rail was the highest priority, while 13.5 percent of responders said the county should improve the Windy Hill Road and Interstate 75 intersection. However, 25.5 percent said neither option was the most important. There were no other choices for the poll.

I’ll be damned.