Fresh Loaf

Dave 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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As I write this, local and federal officials are gathered at the Henry County Chamber of Commerce in McDonough for an invite-only meeting to discuss just what the hell can be done to finally make the long-planned Atlanta-Griffin commuter rail line a reality.

CL tried to weasel its way into the meeting, which has been called by the Atlanta Regional Commission. But no dice. Word from sources is that U.S. Reps. Lynn Westmoreland and David Scott are either personally attending or have representatives at the meeting.

Time’s a-tickin’ on the project. The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee told Congressmen last month it was ready to pull federal funding on people-moving projects that have languished in limbo for extended periods of time. For nearly a decade the state has sat on $87 million in federal funds to build the Atlanta-Griffin project. The money’s there to upgrade the lines, but state and local leaders haven’t been able to figure out a way to pay for the rail lines operations and maintenance costs.

More to come when we hear from our li’l birdies who are attending the meeting.

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U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., visited the Atlanta Press Club today and spoke about rail, water woes and the nation’s standstill economy. (He said it might take five years for the nation to recover.) Isakson also said the closing of the Hapeville Ford Plant might have hurt the region’s chances for the Atlanta-Lovejoy rail line.

Maria Saporta and the AJC’s Kristi Swartz wrote great summaries of his speech. Grayson Daughters also produced a video of Isakson’s talk.

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On April 16, President Barack Obama gave rail lovers some long-awaited good news: As part of the president’s stimulus plan, he offered $8 billion to begin linking major U.S. cities with high-speed rail lines — and an additional $5 billion more to improve rail service over the next four years.

“We need high-speed rail,” Obama said. “It’s happening right now. It’s been happening for decades. The problem is, it’s been happening elsewhere, not here.”

By “elsewhere,” the president was referring to Europe and Asia. But he could just as easily have been talking about Southeastern states other than Georgia. Thanks to a lack of vision, little to no funding, and an almost cartoonish addiction to roads, the Peach State’s far behind many of its neighbors when it comes to rail.

Transit and transportation advocates say if the state’s leadership doesn’t work to catch up, Georgia could miss out on a nationwide rail renaissance.

Click here to continue reading this story.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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The Georgia Association of Rail Passengers has called for Gov. Sonny Perdue to restore funding for the Atlanta-Griffin commuter rail line that’s been earmarked for federal dollars and which the governor said he’d support during last year’s gas shortage. U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., has already scolded Perdue for not funding the line.

Passenger rail advocates are calling on the Georgia General Assembly to approve $15 million in funding for Atlanta-Griffin commuter rail line, despite Governor Sonny Perdue’s failure to include the money in his budget.

“It’s extremely unfortunate that the Governor went back on his promise to fund the Atlanta-Griffin line,” said Steve Vogel, president of the Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers (GARP).  “It also was a big mistake.”

The federal government has $87 million set aside for the rail project, but it’s been stalled for years by state government inaction.  The Georgia Department of Transportation has asked for $15 million to get the project moving again.

Rest of the release is after the jump.
(more…)

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Yep. That’s billion.

According to the first phase of a study conducted by a consulting firm tasked with developing a statewide transportation plan, Georgia needs an extra $100 billion over the next 20 years if we want to move around this congested mess.

The always-excellent Maria Saporta at the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports:

The study explores improving mobility in the Atlanta region through three different ways:

• Demand management: teleworking, compressed workweeks, employee vanpools, congestion pricing, better clear of accidents and converting existing HOV lanes to High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes, where people pay a premium to drive in faster-moving lanes.

• Connecting infrastructure: HOT lanes connecting major employment centers, an express bus system, commuter rail to Griffin and additional arterial roads.

• Invest in most congested corridors: replace express buses with light or heavy rail in dense corridors, build high capacity road projects and build commuter rail between Atlanta and Athens.

The “scenario study” defines those high-capacity road projects as a tunnel underneath the Downtown Connector from I-675 to Georgia 400; and another tunnel paralleling the northern arc of I-285.

That thing about commuter rail? Really cool. The thing about the tunnel snaking under the Downtown Connector tunnels? Well, as the also-excellent Joe Winter once wrote in CL — not so cool.

The price tag for the statewide transportation plan over the next 20 years is between $142 billion and $251 billion. About a half of those funds would likely come from existing sources, such as federal highway dollars, the motor fuel tax and the MARTA sales tax.

Which means the rest will have to come from a new source. The next phase of the study will focus on that conundrum.

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GEORGE CARLIN: Dies at 71.

SLOW AND STEADY: The Obama campaign gingerly courts the black vote in states where high black-voter turnout could make the difference, while trying to avoid giving the appearance of exploiting race.

2 FAST 2 USURIOUS: Atlanta Progressive News reports that Atlanta-based CompuCredit is being sued by the FDIC and FTA for $200 million on charges it deceived and took advantage of its customers.

UGA IN CWS: The final, best-of-three series begins tonight at 7.

GRAVY TRAIN: The recently Sonny-approved notion of commuter rail would be a boon for smallish towns along the proposed Atlanta-Griffin and Atlanta-Athens rail lines.

STATE OF THE ARTIFACT: Archaeological-artifact poaching is on the rise in Georgia, according to a DNR official.

THE BEE’S KNEES: This week is the national Pollinators Week, created to raise awareness of the ecologically critical, and quickly disappearing, insects that pollinate crops and flowers.

FUEL OF ROCK: More below-the-radar touring bands are canceling tours as gas prices make going on the road cost prohibitive.

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Gov. Sonny Perdue recently reversed his long-standing opposition to state-funded commuter rail in Georgia.

“I am fully prepared to support GDOT’s efforts on commuter rail and making the pilot a reality. After looking at the operational costs that I’ve seen it makes sense to go all the way to Griffin using this pilot program.”

— Perdue, in a June 12 press release.

“We have added 15 new GRTA Express bus routes and plan to have 37 such routes in operation by 2010. We are moving forward with the Bus Rapid Transit project on the I-75 corridor, at a cost of over $1.8 billion.”

— Perdue, responding to a question about passenger rail in Georgia, during a 2006 AJC candidates’ forum.

“[The Atlanta-Lovejoy line] had also endured a decade of hurdles, including Perdue’s 2003 gutting of a state bond package (passed under Roy Barnes’ administration) that included money to fund commuter rail…”

— Georgia Trend, March 2007.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Gov. Sonny Perdue today said he’d support the long-awaited commuter rail line between Atlanta and Griffin, pitching it as a “pilot program” for other routes in other parts of the state.

We turn to Dave Williams of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. He reports:

“We have not kept pace in our transportation infrastructure,” Perdue said during a news conference at his Capitol office. “We need to catch up and make sure we plan for the future.”

As recently as this year’s legislative session, the governor stood on the sidelines as lawmakers debated a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed Georgians frustrated by ever-worsening traffic congestion to vote by region on whether to raise sales taxes to pay for needed transportation improvements. The legislation, which would have included public transit projects, failed by three votes in the Senate.

…

Perdue said he chose the Griffin project over a second planned commuter rail line linking Atlanta and Athens because substantial federal funds already are committed to the Griffin line. The southern route also offers fewer impediments to an agreement to share the tracks with freight trains operated by Norfolk Southern Corp., he said.

Yep, that’s what the DOT board told us a couple of months ago, too. Click that link to read more about the train that will lead to Griffin. Perdue also told reporters he’d located the funding he promised last week to purchase sorely-needed buses for GRTA.

Perdue also announced that he has identified $13 million from various funding sources that he plans to use to buy an additional 28 buses for the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, which operates commuter bus routes across the metro area. He asked for the money last winter, but the legislature yanked it from the mid-year budget.

Get Georgia Moving, a coalition of more than 50 groups ranging from road builders to transit advocates who led the unfruitful push for additional funding for transportation during the last legislative session, applauded the governor’s decision via press release:

“We commend the Governor for moving to address Georgia’s transportation funding shortfall,” said Charles Tarbutton, assistant vice president of Sandersville Railroad Company, chair of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and co-chair of the Get Georgia Moving Coalition. “For too long, Georgia has lacked the money to build the infrastructure we need to support our booming population and maintain our strong economy. As a result, badly needed projects are being canceled all across Georgia. This problem is affecting every corner of our state. It touches every one of the nearly 10 million people who call Georgia home. And it must be resolved.”

“We applaud the Governor’s leadership and are glad to see transportation being addressed at the highest level,” said Bill Linginfelter, former Georgia State CEO for Wachovia Bank and former chairman of the transportation policy committee of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. “Congestion is the number one problem every citizen deals with every day in metro Atlanta and the biggest threat to our quality of life and continued economic success. This problem is not new. It has been looming for at least 10 years. In a decade, metro Atlanta has gone from 15^th- to 4^th- to 2^nd-worst traffic in the nation.”

“Any real solution must be immediate, generate enough funding to provide the relief we need, be open to all modes of transportation and have a meaningful impact on our quality-of-life and our economic competitiveness,” said Joe Leonard, retired chairman of AirTran Airways, chairman of the transportation policy committee of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and co-chair of the Get Georgia Moving Coalition. “We applaud the Governor for engaging experts on a comprehensive solution and we look forward to a plan that produces tangible, immediate and significant results.”

In other news, pigs are drunk with flight-induced glee.

UPDATE: After the jump, view Perdue’s statement.

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