Al points to this article in the AJC, which is sure to interest the more transportation-obsessed among us.  Gwinnett plans to unveil a new “diverging diamond” at the busy intersection of I-85 and Jimmy Carter Blvd, with similar designs coming to other major county intersections in the coming months and year.

The unusual design, known as a DDI, routes traffic in both directions to the left over an interchange bridge, so that the lanes are briefly reversed. That allows cars turning left onto the interstate ramp to do so without facing oncoming traffic. Cars coming off the interstate also can merge more easily with traffic, designers say.

Not only do designers and advocates believe that the diverging diamond will improve traffic congestion, but that they will replace the county’s old watertowers as the “new symbol for Gwinnett”. The project is projected to cost no more than $750,000.

Huh.

Rendering above courtesy of New York DOT website

Going simply by the requests of public officials in the Atlanta metropolitan area, the idea of more widespread mass transit isn’t just a yuppie-duppie, ITP sorta pipe-dream anymore.

Based on the Atlanta Regional Commission’s compiled Atlanta metro wish-list of projects to be paid by a Transportation Sales Tax, mass transit is a top priority, not just for old hats like Fulton and DeKalb, but also for many of the most populous counties outside I-285.

The AJC’s summary of the 436 project list shows that the 12 county region asked for over $13 billion in mass transit and $8.5 billion in road improvements.  (You can view the full project list yourself, HERE) These numbers mean next to nothing, since local governments weren’t asked to prioritize projects and those reticent of mass transit would use that larger number to argue its outrageous expense just as quickly as supporters would use it to demonstrate its need.

However, a closer look at individual county projects shows that once-hesitant mass transit counties, like Cobb and Gwinnett, are now more than ready to get into the train game.  Cobb’s most expensive requested project is a mass transit line from the Arts Center MARTA station in Midtown to Town Center/Acworth/KSU.  Gwinnett would like $1.1 billion to build a light-rail line from Doraville to Gwinnett Arena.

So what has changed?

The obviousness of the answer makes the question almost rhetorical.  Cobb and Gwinnett are very different counties today than they were in the 1970s.  Atlanta’s growth has subsumed them, MARTA or no MARTA.  Populations have soared and traffic has gotten appreciably worse as a result.  And as is so often the case – boring as it may be – need tends to trump ideology most days of the week.

Now, I’ve surely gotten ahead of myself.  This list is only representative of the wishful thinking of public officials, and not necessarily the voting population.  But based on this initial sign from Atlanta’s outer-boroughs, mass-transit is really less about Left or Right as it is about need.

And with gas approaching $4/gallon and cars providing flexible but slow commutes during rush-hour, the need for faster, cheaper alternatives might finally win out in a few counties where such options were once quite unnecessary.

Atlantans love the Beltline, correct?   Well, if you’re talking about City of Atlanta-Atlantans then yes they do.

But what about metro Atlantans?  The ones who live in counties far beyond the Beltline?  A recent Gwinnett poll gives us another look at what seems will be an uphill battle for Atlanta’s highly publicized public project to get on the list of projects funded by the potential transportation sales tax.

According to an annual poll taken by the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District only 32% of those polled supported the regional sales tax for transportation funding, and only 22% of the 802 Gwinnettians polled supported that funding supporting the Beltline, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

So OK, it looks like regional leaders have some work to do if they want to convince residents to support this penny sales tax in a recovering economy.  Also, I guess it’s not all that surprising that residents with minimal interaction with the Beltline would be all that jazzed about it, and thus support would be even lower for that.

But here’s the sentence that really has the potential to alarm…

In fact, more than 50 percent of respondents said they would be less likely to favor the sales tax if the Beltline was a part of the project list.

“Haters.” was CL’s Thomas Wheatley reaction to this part of the story.

But hey, let’s stop and think on this for a minute.  If ITPers were presented with a question like “would you be more or less likely to favor the transportation sales tax if a new bridge for Jimmy Carter Boulevard was part of the project list?” how do you think they would respond?