Georgia candidates for aid from stimulus pile up

Hart County wants the federal transportation stimulus package to pay $785,195 toward the northeast Georgia community’s “Mega Ramp Fishing Tournament Park.” Augusta wants $355,350 for a “Lover’s Lane Evacuation Route.”

And the South Georgia city of Vienna, population 2,900, didn’t get all that specific —- for transportation, it just wants $1 million.

The stimulus is coming, and Georgia cities, counties and business groups are requesting away. The nearly $1 trillion package may fund everything from sewers to home purchases to roads, but Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Gena Evans says that if anyone thinks Federal Santa will solve the state’s transportation needs, think again.

“There’s not enough money,” said Evans, whose agency is coordinating road requests.

The transportation portion of the stimulus plan the U.S. House of Representatives passed last month would provide Georgia about $1.2 billion, according to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. But the state’s short-term “shovel-ready” wish list already totals several billion dollars and is growing.

Evans says the state should be clear on the stimulus plan’s limitations. “This stimulus package is a jobs works program,” Evans said. “So don’t believe that because we get $1 billion in transportation funding we are going to free up congestion in metropolitan Atlanta or regional, medium-size cities, or solve our freight and infrastructure and logistics problems. That is not what is going to happen.”

The idea is to pump money into the economy, fast. Mark Zandi, an economist with Moodys.com, estimated the total stimulus package could put 143,000 Georgians to work by 2010.

Transportation projects were among the first suggested for the stimulus.

When the money finally arrives in Georgia, the DOT likely will have to slim down the roadwork list before it is approved by the federal government, and the Atlanta Regional Commission will likely do the same with metro Atlanta’s mass-transit lists.

That won’t be fun. A state draft of “shovel-ready” projects that the DOT and MARTA put together last year totaled $3.4 billion. Incoming requests could easily double that figure by the time the DOT is done tallying, department spokesman David Spear said.

In Vienna, City Administrator Gail Bembry said any amount would help.

As for Augusta’s Lover’s Lane evacuation route, the paperwork doesn’t convey the whole story. This lover’s lane serves a number of industrial plants that could be cut off from evacuation in case of a railway accident, so a new route is necessary, said Augusta’s assistant director of traffic engineering, Steve Cassell.

In Cobb County, the Cumberland Community Improvement District, a self-taxing business district, submitted 32 projects for more than $150 million in funding. They’re “shovel-ready” because the group has paid $10 million for the designs and to buy the land, said Malaika Rivers, the group’s executive director.

She had no qualms about asking for stimulus funding.

“The feds are going to come up with a pot of money,” Rivers said. “Why not take advantage of it?”

Michael Pearson, Ty Tagami and Nancy Badertscher contributed to this article.

HOPEFUL THINKING

The local wish lists pouring into the DOT range from dream pet projects to mundane transportation needs. Here are some amounts metro Atlanta officials hope to bring home.

City of Atlanta: $449 million for roads and transit, including $120 million for repaving, at least $121 million for streetcar lines and $500 million for the airport’s international terminal

Sandy Springs: $221 million, including $12 million to widen Abernathy Road and $1.8 million for a Sandy Springs Circle streetscape.

Cobb County: $158 million, including repaving some roads and buying 20 buses for mass transit.

DeKalb County: $92 million, including $14 million for installing more than 100 traffic signals

Cherokee County: $90.1 million, including a new $25 million interchange at I-575 and Ridgewalk Parkway.

Forsyth County: $13 million.

Sources: Cobb County, city of Sandy Springs, DeKalb County, city of Atlanta, Cherokee County, Forsyth County, U.S. Conference of Mayors

ON THE WEB

To see the two big project lists, go to ajc.com.

City of Atlanta list, transportation and other:

www.usmayors.org/mainstreeteconomicrecovery/stimulussurveyparticipantsdata.asp?City=Atlanta&State=GA