Home > Political Insider > Archives > 2008 > February > 29 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USDOT to ax 150 road projects next week
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We’re picking up word that the state Department of Transportation, in an effort to reconcile the reality of funding with an overpromised list of projects, is preparing to issue stop-work orders on 150 current road projects contained within 70 contracts.
Which projects, we don’t know. Letters are to go out next week. About half of the 35 contracts could be renegotiated, but the others will be dropped entirely.
We’re told to anticipate a drop in annual funding for the Fast Forward program — Gov. Sonny Perdue’s top-shelf transportation program — from $2.7 billion to $1.1 billion.
Since roads are a big part of politics, the cuts are likely to spur legislative efforts to come up with more cash to relieve traffic congestion in metro Atlanta and elsewhere. Both the House and Senate are mulling over different approaches that involve a 1 percent sales tax.
Shortly after taking the job of DOT commissioner last year, Gena Abraham said her initial investigations found that her inherited staff couldn’t tell her how many projects the agency had. She also confirmed that the department needed $7 billion more over six years to cope with commitments it had made.
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
Comments
By woody
February 29, 2008 12:17 PM | Link to this
I wish this would have happened before they tore up Lawrenceville Hwy @I-285 for no apparent reason and made it so wide a 747 could land on it. and yet they still let those sleezey Hotels still stand. Thanks Dekalb County & GADOT county for making it easier for prositutes to do business and eroding the peace and security of the surrounding family oriented neiborhoods.
By woody
February 29, 2008 12:18 PM | Link to this
I wish this would have happened before they tore up Lawrenceville Hwy @I-285 for no apparent reason and made it so wide a 747 could land on it. and yet they still let those sleezey Hotels still stand. Thanks Dekalb County & GADOT county for making it easier for prositutes to do business and eroding the peace and security of the surrounding family oriented neighborhoods.
By Chief Wiggum
February 29, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this
Stopping a project already under construction can be VERY costly, as you can’t leave it in a state of transition. This seems to be a more of a attention-getter than anything. The real way to deal with this is to look at all future projects, and if needed, re-rank them based on priority, and fund as far down the list as possible each year.
If this has to do with projects where construction hasn’t started, that’s understandable. But to stop an ongoing project is hardly being responsible, unless it’s a gross misuse of public funds.
By Sonny Doo List
February 29, 2008 12:59 PM | Link to this
Knowing this backwards state they will stop the needed Metro-Atlanta projects to concentrate on the south Georgia highways to nowhere.
By JRH
February 29, 2008 1:05 PM | Link to this
Perhaps DOT could fix their budget problem by just building roads and bridges instead of closing ramps and building parks over the downtown connector.
By farmboy
February 29, 2008 1:26 PM | Link to this
Sonny Doo: it will probably follow the good ol boy network of distributing favors.. I know of one project on 20 in Greensboro to build an interchange to serve (1) private development that is in the “justification” phase…
By MTH
February 29, 2008 2:10 PM | Link to this
Gina Abraham can turnaround the GDOT. Maybe this is what needs to happen for that to be the result. The GDOT has bowed to politcal pressure since its inception. She will probably be replaced with a crony of some powerful politician soon.
By DICK
February 29, 2008 2:21 PM | Link to this
HEY MTH, SHE IS THE CRONY PICKED BY A POLITICIAN…SONNY
By that_guy
February 29, 2008 9:39 PM | Link to this
DICK,
Appropriate moniker you have there.
Abraham is an engineering PhD from GA Tech. She spent many years working in the private sector dealing with construction project completion, resource allocation, logistics, etc. Then spent another several years helping run and engineer state agencies, dealing with issues along the same lines.
She’s the best hope of modernizing this state’s backward transportation policy. She’s honest, capable, forward-thinking, and results oriented. So what if she was tapped by Sonny? Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.
(And she’s a pretty hot acorn at that.)
By Go Gena
March 2, 2008 4:33 AM | Link to this
Gena is the real deal, and I wish her all the luck in the world. But GDOT is the ultimate good ole boys network. They’re going to fight her every step of the way.
The waste and bloat is massive. And if someone at GDOT is good to a road builder, big developer, etc., you have a good chance at getting hired by them at a higher salary. GDOT is supposed to be the department of all forms of transportation, but it’s pretty much just the department of highway construction and nothing else. GDOT can’t even properly synchronize the traffic lights its in charge of. They’re not even going to upgrade HOV signs until next year, despite the Buffton bus crash. They should be working hand in hand with our state troopers for highway & road safety, but don’t.
Every year, GDOT wastes tens if not hundreds of millions of our tax money, and has done so under both Democrat and Republican administrations. We need forensic audits. We need transparency. We need elected officials to stop using GDOT as a way to hand out political favors. Hoping Gena can change the culture of GDOT, but it’s going to be near impossible.