Buckhead Coalition pushing for end to Ga. 400 toll
June 9, 2009 at 6:17 pm by Scott Henry in News
The CEOS and muckety-mucks behind the Buckhead Coalition have decided to use their considerable civic clout in demanding that the state honor its two-decade-old pledge to dismantle the toll plaza on Ga. 400 when the road construction bonds are paid off in July 2011.
“We’d all promised — the City Council, the state, the Buckhead Coalition — that if voters approved Georgia’s first toll road, then the toll would go away once the debt was retired,” explains BC president Sam Massell, whose group helped lobby for the toll as a funding mechanism for the then-proposed Ga. 400 extension, which runs from I-285 through Buckhead to I-85.
“Just once, I’d like to see politicians keep their word,” the former Atlanta mayor says.
The 50-cent toll has been a huge success, financially speaking, bringing in more than $20 million a year. That’s far more than is needed to cover the $9 million in annual debt payments and assorted maintenance on the road. The State Road and Tollway Authority, which oversees the project, even diverted some of the surplus revenue to buy land in Midtown a few years back, a move critics called a violation of the agreement that created the authority.
Massell says the toll plaza is such a cash cow that the state may need to be forced to shut it down. He says DOT Commissioner Gena Evans, since ousted, had told his group she planned to keep the tolls flowing after 2011
So, is this a simple case of Buckhead millionaires who don’t like digging for quarters every time their chauffeurs get on the highway?
No such luck. The anti-toll movement — which was recently endorsed by the Fulton County Commission through a resolution — is actually part of a canny strategy to push the DOT into finally building a long-awaited ramp linking the south-bound lanes of Ga. 400 to the north-bound lanes of I-85.
The ramp was left off when the extension opened in the early ’90s to save money. Its absence has meant that south-bound Ga. 400 commuters must exit at Sidney Marcus Boulevard in order to head toward Gwinnett — or cut through Buckhead neighborhoods.
Massell says his group would be willing to support the renewal of the Ga. 400 toll agreement for another few years if the proceeds were dedicated to building the I-85 ramp. It’s a fair bet you’ll be hearing a lot more about this in the months to come.
June 9th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
This is stupid. 400 is one of the only ways that Fulton county collects revenue from people who work here but don’t live here (besides sales tax). They should put tolls on all the interstates!
If anything BHC should push to receive a portion of the revenue collected from the toll to pay for roads and police in Buckhead.
June 9th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Yeah, whatever you do, don’t force politicians to keep their promises, especially if it means reducing taxes.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
We should just be glad that the tolls have remained $.50 for so long. I’m originally from toll-happy Texas (moved here in ‘99), and my family tells me that the rates just keep getting higher and higher. In Dallas, they pay $3-4 to go one way on a stretch of the loop road similar to 285 from 85 to 75.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:06 am
Unfortunately the State has it’s grubby little hands on this money.
The toll should be turned over to Fulton and be jacked up to $1 for pollution, side streets that everybody clogs up. I think we should jack the parking rates up for out of county commuters. If anything Atlanta has way too much of its commuters. They aren’t buying anything, they go to work, collect their paycheck and then pay taxes in their own counties.
Marta Rates for out of county commuters should also be aligned with the times. It costs me $5 just to sit in a Cab do you think anybody from out of town is gonna think twice about paying $2.50 to go anywhere in Fulton County?
Atlanta regularly makes it to the top 10 most taxed cities list.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:50 am
400 tolls don’t just affect the affluent, who can afford them.
There are plenty of service workers in
Miltonnorth Fulton who can’t necessarily take MARTA to their jobs. (MARTA in north Fulton essentially is as limited as CCT.) And don’t say that they should get jobs closer in town. A lot of those jobs exist only in suburbia and in this economy, the only help wanted signs I see tend to be out there.Part of me wants to say continue the tolls, and divert the money toward transit or something to ease congestion.
In lieu of a competent state legislature, however, I say hold them to their promises — end the tolls.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I think they should raise the toll to $1.75 and give it to MARTA for the express purpose of expanding North Fulton service — and maybe give me an bag of quarters every couple months as a thank you for suggesting the idea.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:13 am
end the tolls.
they are bad for business.
June 10th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Right on Andisheh!
With the DOT in such dire financial straights, where’s the $$ for maintenance coming from? Taxes on area businesses wesleywhatwhat?
June 10th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Scott, any word on what the tolls would be used for if they continued and weren’t put towards a ramp?
June 10th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
DaleC, rptrcub and Wesleywhatwhat agree on something?
I either need to sober up or get more intoxicated.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Wesley what business?
rptrcub why should I pay a 44 millage rate to keep up the roads for the counties that come into Atlanta collect their paycheck and leave?
So you are saying I should come out of pocket to make it easier for workers in the Suburbs? Please. Nobody in North Fulton is suffering I promise you.
North Fulton has a median income of $86,000 while the rest of Atlanta is around $36,000.
They should move closer to the City. There I said it.
June 10th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Page 12 for the demographics.
http://aysps.gsu.edu/Report_1_Costs_Revenue_Milton_3-03-09.pdf
June 11th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
These issues crack me up. Of course 400 should keep a toll booth. Why should the government not have something profitable running?
And for the North Fulton people, shut up. You’re in Fulton instead of Milton because the dumb rednecks there drove the county into bankruptcy and were saved by the gracious members of Fulton who had the foresight to annex worthless farm land that would one day become a valuable refuge for people hiding/escaping from minorities.
June 18th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
we should put tolls on both sides of 20 coming into to and out of town. put tolls on 75 and 85 both, coming into and out of town. let everyone share this burden. is that not the right thing to do? it should not be just a tax on the so called well to do residents of north fulton county.
June 18th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
sure, sure.
put toll booths on every road.
and some driveways.
that will force people to live where we want!
why should any group be expected to abide by the agreements they made when they first ask to be the exception to the rule?
the state should finish the job (build the southbound ramp to 85 north) then remove the toll.
July 14th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
I am really surprised at some of the responses this has gotten.
- About using the money on side streets
- Dont worry the rich can afford them
- Divert the money to transit
The fact of the matter is the money is suppose to be used to pay off 400 and thats it! If you want the money to pay for other projects then they should put tolls on the people who use the city streets that you want the money going to.
I dont care if the people can afford it, its about doing the right thing and keeping to your word.