Fed, local officials say they’ll fight to keep Atlanta-Griffin rail funding
May 18, 2009 at 4:16 pm by Thomas Wheatley in NewsDave Williams of the Atlanta Business Chronicle managed to sneak into the Atlanta Regional Commission’s commuter-rail sitdown today at the Henry County Chamber of Commerce. He reports local and federal officials say they support the Atlanta-Griffin project:
Supporters of a proposed route linking Atlanta and Griffin agreed to help the cash-strapped Georgia Department of Transportation complete a study of the project’s economic development potential.
The report, due as early as August, also is to determine how much local governments would need to contribute to match $87 million in federal funds set aside for the project in 1998, and a business model for how that local money could be raised.
Williams reports both U.S. Congressmen David Scott, D-Atlanta, and Lynn Westmoreland, R-Grantville, voiced their support for the line. Westmoreland, a member of the Congressional committee that has threatened to claw back the commuter-rail project’s $87 million in federal funding, says he plans to meet with committee leadership in the next week to discuss the issue.
Our source reports ARC officials this morning also voiced their support to keep the earkmarked funds dedicated to the rail line.
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