Fresh Loaf

Dave Williams from the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports:

The State Transportation Board instructed the agency’s staff Thursday to put rail projects on its wish list for TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants, part of the federal economic stimulus program, after learning that the department’s original list contained only highway projects.

“We don’t ever consider (rail projects) as part of our process,” board member Emory McClinton of Atlanta complained during a staff update on the DOT’s plans for federal stimulus funds. “At some point, we have to change this mentality.”

But there’s a catch. Williams has that for you at the Chronicle’s site. Some of the state’s commuter rail projects include the Athens-Atlanta-Griffin (and eventually — hopefully — on to Macon) line and the long-planned downtown train terminal proposed in the Gulch.

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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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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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The Georgia Public Policy Foundation, the banner carriers of the Peach State’s free-market movement, hosted DOT Commissioner Gena Abraham last week to update powerplayers and bigwigs about the transportation agency’s pulse.

Here’s Abraham in a Florida Times-Union article about the event, talking about some of the good deeds that have gone unnoticed in light of all the romantic hullabaloo during her tenure (emphasis added):

In her speech, [Abraham] complained that news reports of [her relationship with former board Chairman Mike Evans] were distracting the public from information of substantive progress at the agency, namely a commitment to proceed with a long-discussed commuter-rail line from Atlanta to Lovejoy.

“I want to mention something that I am very excited about that the board passed in the last board meeting that didn’t get written about. Everything else in my personal life did. The board was very, very excited, and so was I about passing a resolution to look at commuter rail,” she said.

*Cough, cough* Ahem.

In more substantive news, the article also includes this choice nugget:

Another way of paying for [transportation projects] would be through privately run toll roads or, at least, toll lanes. Perhaps that’s why the luncheon was sponsored by Transurban, an Australian company that operates toll lanes for rushed commuters in Washington, D.C., and a toll road in Richmond, Va.

Common sense would tell me these speedy lanes would benefit the folks who could afford them — and who aren’t getting pinched by high gas prices — and cripple those who can’t, leaving them sitting in traffic in the Average Joe lanes, burning gasoline and seconds of their lives.

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Lost in the headlines about the DOT romance between former board Chairman Mike Evans and Commissioner Gena Abraham was the news that commuter rail earned a shot in the arm on Monday. The board passed a resolution that directs agency staff to determine how feasible a new funding concept would be to cover much of the costs — including the tricky operating costs — of a commuter rail network in metro Atlanta. Probable first on the list: A line between Atlanta and the awesomely named hamlet of Lovejoy. The project already has nearly $110 million in DOT funding earmarked as well as promised federal funding.

I heard what you said. “Lovejoy? Why not somewhere more populous and exciting, like Marietta? White Water’s fixing to open soon, yo.” My thoughts exactly.

But to create a vibrant rail corridor to Macon, a long-planned vision for the state, Lovejoy would be a good first stop. Also, when the idea was first brought to light years ago, the city to our south is as far as the money would take them. DOT Board member Larry Walker said that the money is there, time had been invested by certain parties, and it was the most feasible.

Walker says the resolution is not just a toothless vote that will add to the pile of such actions passed over the years.

“What’s the difference between this motion and the motions in the past?” said Robert Brown during Monday’s meeting.

“We want it done,” said Larry Walker, a board member who has been one of the biggest pushers for commuter rail. “We can keep coming back and talking about debt and what’s it going to cost, but we might be here in five years talking about the same thing.”

Walker’s not alone in wanting to see commuter trains run from Atlanta to Lovejoy.

“We’ve been talking about this too long,” said Bill Kuhlke, who became acting chairman after Garland Pinholster resigned from the position. “And frankly we can’t build enough roads to ease that congestion.”

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