Rep. Scott: Ga. to win $4.1M for Atlanta-Charlotte rail

By Ariel Hart

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The federal government is preparing to award $4.1 million to Georgia and two other states to develop a multistate plan for high-speed rail between Atlanta and Charlotte, according to the office of U.S. Rep. David Scott, an Atlanta Democrat.

Georgia is working with South Carolina and North Carolina, according to the online notice posted by the U.S. Department of Transportation that gave advance notice of the grant.

A spokeswoman for U.S. DOT, Olivia Alair, did not confirm the award Monday, but said the department "will be making official announcements on Thursday" and had no details to provide before then.

North Carolina has invested heavily in rail programs over the past two decades, and in January, it won a $545 million grant to build high-speed rail. Florida has invested, too, and also won a $1.25 billion construction grant to partially fund a line from Tampa to Orlando. This week, the Obama administration will award Florida an additional $800 million for the line, according to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

High-speed rail is a major initiative of the Obama administration, which has funded it with $8 billion nationwide.

Scott’s chief of staff, Michael Andel, said the Atlanta-Charlotte line was important because it would connect Atlanta to business centers on the East Coast.

“There’s been two good pieces of news for Georgia in the last week,” Andel said, referring to a $47 million grant last week to build an Atlanta streetcar. “It seems like we’re turning the corner on transit in Georgia.”

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood last week told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the city of Atlanta was doing well on transit, but as for the state and high-speed rail, “to me that’s where Georgia really has to get its act together."

He added, “Whoever gets elected governor will be getting a phone call from me, really trying to figure out if Georgia’s going to be in the mix on high-speed intercity rail. They should be. They’re an important region of the country. We want them to be, but it’s going to take extraordinary leadership from the state.”

A spokesman for Nathan Deal, the Republican candidate for governor, said Deal would take a "close look" at a proposed project, but wouldn't say if he'd invest.

Emil Runge, speaking for the Barnes campaign, said Monday that Georgia needs “state support” for high-speed rail in order to remain competitive.

The state Department of Transportation cannot legally use its main source of money, the gas tax, on rail projects, because it can be spent only on roads and bridges. Using what resources the DOT has, Commissioner Vance Smith has tried to reinvigorate rail planning at the department, according to the agency.

The financial problems afflicting rail development in Georgia are not the only ones. State leaders historically dragged their feet on rail projects. More than $80 million that Congress earmarked for a commuter rail line from Atlanta to Lovejoy languished for years. State transit advocates were concerned that the unused money would be revoked, but it did not show up on a recent list of endangered earmarks.