The state Capitol is one block and about a thousand miles from Atlanta's City Hall, particularly if you're a mayor looking for help from the Legislature.

But Atlanta's new mayor, Kasim Reed, has spent more time at the Capitol than some of the lawmakers he had gone there to see last week.

Reed, a Democrat, was there to negotiate with Republican leaders on a bill that could bring at least $750 million a year to the Atlanta region, improving its much-maligned traffic problems.

Democratic lawmakers from DeKalb and Fulton counties were uneasy about the bill. Rep. Rashad Taylor (D-Atlanta), who worked as Reed's deputy campaign manager, called the mayor and asked him to come back from City Hall to help explain the changes he negotiated with the Republicans. Reed returned.

Hours later, the bill passed and Reed received a healthy share of the credit.

The question for some: Was Reed's work a one-time lucky shot or the first of many legislative victories for his young administration?

"This is a big win for the mayor, but we need to put it in context," said Emory University associate political science professor Michael Leo Owens. "The real work is turning it into something tangible. I think the real question is what the projects are that are going to be identified and where are they located. It all comes down to how these politicians are able to sell these projects for the regional good."

The mayor will need help outside City Hall if Atlanta is to address critical issues such as enacting pension reform and getting more money from the federal government for the Beltline and other projects. Reed campaigned last year in large part on using his connections at the Capitol and in Washington to deliver for the city.

Reed did not get everything he wanted at the Capitol this year. The Legislature passed a bill city officials fear will cost Atlanta millions of dollars a year in sales taxes -- a proposal that Reed had testified against.

In February, Atlanta was shut out in a round of federal economic stimulus grant awards, despite a vigorous lobbying effort by Reed, who took office a month earlier. City leaders hoped to get some money for a streetcar project.

Reed talks often about cultivating relationships, "gardening" as he calls it, and was known as a consensus builder at the Capitol. Many state lawmakers say Reed's negotiations and lobbying for the bill helped him score critical points with Republicans, who control the executive and legislative branches of government.

"When you show that kind of good faith, it leads to other acts of good faith, and nothing bonds a team better than success," said House Majority Whip Ed Lindsey (R-Atlanta).

In some ways, Reed's work on the transportation bill was a second chance for him. As a state senator, Reed tried hard to get a transportation bill passed. He apologized one year when the Senate couldn't pass legislation that was approved by the House.

Rep. Calvin Smyre, a Democrat from Columbus, joined the Legislature in 1975 and mentored Reed after he arrived at the Capitol in 1999. The two talked a couple of days before the bill passed. Both knew the House was close to the necessary votes to pass a bill, but Smyre said it was not a strong coalition.

"I could feel when the earth is shattering around here," Smyre said. "The ground was shaking."

Smyre himself was on the fence. He wanted a stronger bill that would, among other things, give MARTA more spending flexibility. Reed was sympathetic, but he said business leaders had told the mayor that Atlanta will cede more commerce to Charlotte and other Southern competitors if it does nothing about transportation.

Reed had another sales job with Democrats from DeKalb and Fulton. The mayor explained that the bill gives MARTA more spending flexibility for three years, just like the legislation that nearly passed in 2009 and many of them supported.

"This is what MARTA wanted last year," Reed told the group, according to Taylor.

House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) briefly entered the meeting and thanked Reed for coming to help on the bill. That, Taylor said, was a signal to lawmakers the bill was important to the speaker. Afterward, most lawmakers in the meeting supported the bill.

"[Reed and MARTA] felt the little bit that was there was better than nothing," said Rep. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta), who was swayed to support the bill.

In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's editorial board, the mayor credited Gov. Sonny Perdue for moving from his position of an eight-year allotment for the transportation bill to 10 years. He also praised other state leaders of both political parties for their efforts to get the bill passed.

Reed said he wish the bill had done more, but "we could not let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

House Minority DuBose Porter, a Democratic candidate for governor, said the bill was a "Band-Aid" for MARTA and voted against it.

The mayor still has work to do. Reed must still sell Atlantans by 2012 on a list of transportation projects voters must approve by referendum -- and the 1 percent sales tax to pay for them. Atlanta's transportation region includes 10 metro counties that are as politically divergent as Republican-led Cherokee to the Democratic stronghold of Clayton.

Reed said last week he does not have a specific list of projects, but he wants to spend more money in Buckhead, southwest Atlanta and along the Beltline. Community leaders in both areas say they need better roads and sidewalks.

Rep. Taylor, the Atlanta Democrat, recalled a brief chat he had with the mayor inside the Capitol moments after the final vote to pass the transportation bill.

"It was a heavy lift," Taylor said.

"But it was worth it," Reed replied.

Staff Writer Ariel Hart contributed to this article.