Apparently discussion of the idea of putting a tunnel under East Atlanta neighborhoods – in an effort to funnel traffic away from the connector – is still going hot and heavy down at the Gold Dome.  The AJC reported on this a couple days back, but it just caught my attention again when it popped up on the front page of AJC.com.

“The tunnel is the one project that absolutely, head and shoulders above every other P3, moves the needle the most on congestion mitigation and mobility,” said David Doss, who chairs the state Transportation Board’s committee on such projects. The reason it wasn’t listed at the very top of DOT’s project list was because of the “unknowns” involved in creating a new urban road tunnel here, he said.

Where to begin this time?

Um, how about more highway pavement doesn’t actually relieve congestion?  It just encourages more folks to set up shop in the fragile exurb ecosystem?  How about the cost to build and maintain the dang thing will be astronomical?  How about the level of damage done to those east-side neighborhoods during construction and after?  (Ben’s already done a great job of summarizing these points over at Terminal Station.)

Oh, and here’s the most deliciously insensitive part of this whole cockamamie idea.

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In light of all of our recent conversations about the safety and security aspects of owning/carrying a gun after the death of the Standard’s John Henderson, this new report about a potential victim killing his assailant across from the Graveyard Tavern in East Atlanta is frighteningly timely.