Next governor holds reins on transportation

By Ariel Hart

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

In a few years, thanks in part to Gov. Sonny Perdue, metro Atlantans could be seeing a transportation revolution, with speedy electronic HOV toll lanes on I-85 and $700 million or more devoted each year to projects in the region.

Or maybe an entirely different vision will be realized.

It depends a great deal on Perdue's successor.

Perdue has put his stamp on Georgia transportation in ways that may change life for millions of Georgians. But just as game-changing new transportation programs are gaining steam here, a new governor will take office and in many cases take on the power to advance, stymie or reinvent them.

As great as that power may be, transportation is not the No. 1 priority for any of the eight candidates to replace Perdue. All agreed it was near the top -- although below or on par with jobs or education -- and that something needs to be done. What that is, depends.

Through control of key positions and agencies, the governor can make or break any number of issues. His or her opinions on tolls, transit, tunnels and private investment will be instrumental in shaping metro Atlantans' daily commutes.

"Just by the nature of their position -- the ability to call a news conference, the ability to go into any city in Georgia and create an event by their very presence -- they have the ability to speak, gain attention, be seen as someone who should be able to deliver," said Dick Anderson, who was part of Perdue's transportation policy team as director of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. He is now vice chairman of both the GRTA and the gubernatorial campaign of Karen Handel.

Anderson and others pointed out that in years when Perdue did not back transportation funding legislation it stalled, and when Perdue drove the train it passed.  To Anderson, that shows the governor is the most influential transportation official in the state.

Roy Barnes, Perdue's predecessor and potential successor, agreed the governor is essential.

"If the governor’s not involved and doesn’t use his bully pulpit and power and influence as director of the budget to push transportation, it just doesn’t get done," Barnes said.

Barnes knows how fragile a governor's accomplishments in transportation can be.

In 1999 he held his own momentous news conference for the signing of a transportation bill. The cornerstone of his program was a new law creating an agency with sweeping powers to, advocates hoped, fund transportation and rein in sprawl. That agency is the GRTA. Barnes lost in 2002, and the GRTA vision was scaled back.

Aside from the bully pulpit, the Georgia governor has a collection of more concrete weapons in the transportation policy battle, and Perdue is responsible for some of the more potent ones. He pushed through a law last year that increases the governor's power and removes power from the Department of Transportation board. Over the years Perdue and some members of the DOT board have feuded, with consequences for the DOT's management, projects and budget.

Perdue is also responsible for the creation of a director of planning within the DOT who writes the state's transportation strategy. The director of planning also will be the key player under one of Perdue's other big transportation accomplishments, a plan to divide the state into 12 regions that would vote in a 2012 referendum on a 1-penny sales tax to fund projects in those areas. The director would set the criteria for selecting projects that would be funded through the tax, which in metro Atlanta could mean about $700 million a year.

But those new powers mean some of Perdue's achievements are far from concrete because they are being implemented late in his administration, leaving less on the ground as accomplished fact for a successor to accept.

That leaves the state with an array of potential results tied to the candidates for governor.

Among the hopefuls, Handel hews close to some key Perdue policies, like the referendum and the DOT. "Do we need to continue to look at transforming the internal operations at GDOT?" she asked. "Absolutely." However, she said she would cancel the I-85 toll project if it weren't so far under way, as the state should not toll lanes already built with tax dollars.

On the other end of the spectrum, DuBose Porter vehemently opposes the referendum and would substitute his own.

The referendum holds the No. 1 spot on the Metro Atlanta Chamber's transportation list. "I haven’t talked to every single candidate, but I’ve talked to a good number of them" who reported support, said Bill Linginfelter, chairman of the chamber. "It’s been clear to the business community for years, that if we didn’t have this, a plan, it would slow economic progress in the metro area and, in truth, throughout the state."

Tad Leithead, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission, has specific hopes for the next governor, including a recognition that additional funding sources will be needed if the region is to progress.

He knows it's not in his hands. This year, advocates like Leithead and Linginfelter will just have to wait and see.

Governor's toolbox

Aside from the bully pulpit, Georgia's governor has a collection of tools he can use to steer transportation policy. They include:

• The governor now appoints the Department of Transportation's director of planning, who writes the state's transportation strategy, sets criteria for selecting projects, and has a strong hand in picking projects.
• For a new transportation tax going before voters in 2012, which could bring in $7 billion over 10 years in metro Atlanta, local leaders must choose projects from a list supplied by the director of planning.
• The governor appoints the board of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, which will manage mass transit projects selected for the tax.
• The governor is chairman of the State Road and Tollway Authority, which runs Ga. 400 -- where the tollbooths can come down next year if the state will do it -- and now is helping develop a network of electronic HOV toll lanes to start next year with I-85 in Gwinnett County. The SRTA will set the cap on those toll rates.
• In addition, the SRTA and the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission, which is also led by the governor, will likely be the agencies deciding whether to let the state borrow for big public-private toll projects.