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DEL.ICIO.USDenver’s regional transit plan leaves Atlanta years behind
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
MARTA General Manager Beverly Scott is green with envy.
The Denver region is building 120 miles of light rail and commuter rail that should be complete by 2015. Already, Denver operates about 1,000 buses at peak times, compared to MARTA’s meager 550 buses (although our region is nearly double Denver’s metro population).
And Denver also is planning to increase its bus service by 25 percent.
“We are being dwarfed by comparison,” Scott said when she called me from Denver this afternoon. Robert Brown, an architect who serves on the board of the Georgia Department of Transportation, said much the same thing. Both were part of the LINK delegation of about 110 Atlanta leaders who have been in Denver for the past three days.
“They’ve been making progress,” said Brown, who actually has been on every LINK trip including the first one in 1997 that also visited Denver. “Atlanta has continued to plan and study. It’s pretty obvious they have moved ahead of us in providing choices for transportation. That’s obvious when you ride their system.”
Two factors have led to Denver’s progress. Strong regional consensus and a dedicated source of funding.
“They have certainly embraced regional collaboration,” Brown said. “It’s still a work-in-progress for us.”
Denver has learned the hard way. Back in 1997, a proposal to fund a plan was presented to voters, and the measure failed in a 58 percent to 42 percent vote.
But in 2004, after an extensive campaign to reach voters, voters approved a sales tax increase of 4 cents on every $10 to fund an ambitious transportation plan with most of the money going towards rail transit. The measure passed: 58 percent to 42 percent.
One reason it was passed by voters throughout the region is that transit is planned in every direction.
“They were able to develop a plan that had something for everyone,” Brown said. “And even the areas not in the plan understood that it would benefit the region and their community in the long run.”
Scott said that key was developing a plan that offered service that was appropriate to the contributions from each of the counties.
“People from Atlanta are realizing that in the last 12 years, Denver has come from behind and passed us,” said Bill Bolling, executive director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank who also has been on all 12 LINK trips. “Denver is a totally different place than it was 12 years ago. They have really worked out the mechanics to be a regional entity.”
Scott, who was on her first LINK trip, put it another way. “We candidly have about 10 to 15 years ahead of us to catch up with Denver,” she said. “It’s clear that they think and act regionally. They have pulled together and understand that they sink or swim together.”
One speaker, Tom Norton, who is a former director of the Colorado Department of Transportation, shared some advice with the Atlanta delegation, Scott said.
“No plan is perfect,” he told the group. “If you sit around waiting for perfection, the world will pass you by.”
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