Atlanta Forward, Our View: Transit is a track 
to metro’s prosperity

The crossroads or the bypass. Georgians must choose between those transportation concepts in coming months.

Where we land may well determine how we both dovetail into the Southeast’s growing economy and move around metro Atlanta in years to come.

Do we cling to the past? Or place table-turning bets toward our future prosperity?

Last week’s visit to Atlanta by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood plainly laid out where the nation is headed on issues involving roads and rails. In remarks before the Atlanta Regional Commission and during a meeting with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, LaHood said that, under President Barack Obama, DOT is backing a surface transportation policy that entails a lot more than mainly funding pourings of new asphalt.

Georgia is a crossroads. And in transportation, it’s better to be a hub than a spoke. For proof of that, look to the epicenter of global travel that is Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. For decades, it has been a powerful booster of our region’s economy. It resulted from an innovative investment in tomorrow’s opportunities. Until recent months, it has been an understatement to say that Georgia has been traditional, if not hidebound, in its transportation outlook. While Georgia has idled like an SUV on I-20 at rush-hour, the nation has lurched intermittently toward what LaHood calls a more balanced transportation model.

This state is at risk of seeing economic growth bypass us if we don’t figure out how to climb aboard. Those who sneer at that scenario should consult the history books.

Consider the example offered by the Mississippi River, a huge travel barrier for a growing nation a century ago. St. Louis and Chicago were both vying for transportation primacy in the mid-1800s as this country focused on westward expansion. St. Louis dithered, caving to pressure brought by riverboat operators threatened by upstart new railroads.

Upriver interests 300 miles north pushed ahead, opening the first bridge across the mighty Mississippi at Rock Island, Ill. That created a straight shot westward out of Chicago. And St. Louis became the second city of rail transportation.

A modern-day replay of that economic drubbing could well happen in Georgia if we don’t look hard at joining the national high-speed rail network that seems closer than ever to becoming reality. Doing so won’t be cheap. Neither is widening ever-crowded roads. It’s all about what makes sense to best sustain, if not improve, our place in the Southeast.

We’re pleased the state has shown early signs of joining the movement toward more non-road transit. Gov. Sonny Perdue has voiced some support for passenger rail. The Georgia Department of Transportation’s 2009 rail plan calls trains a “formidable tool ... in addressing the nation’s increasing population growth and economic and social development.”

That should give the Georgia Legislature impetus to sincerely weigh all this — and act in a forward-looking way — during the next legislative session.

While snazzy intercity rail routes like the one proposed for Atlanta to Charlotte and points north grab much of the attention, we also know our local traffic congestion will only worsen as the economy recovers.

That should push decision-making about, and funding for, long-proposed commuter rail in the Atlanta area. Ten of the 13 biggest U.S. metro areas have commuter trains, but not Atlanta. Our low ratio of people to land is usually cited as a reason to keep it that way.

Other cities see it differently. In solidly conservative Texas, commuter trains serve the Dallas region, which has a population density of 573.6 people a square mile. Atlanta’s number was 671.5 people a mile in the 2000 census. So much for the density argument.

The proposed “Brain Train” to Athens has generated much derision, but it deserves a serious look, especially given this well-traveled route isn’t served by an interstate highway.

The commuter line south to Lovejoy could help lay rail toward extending the high-speed network to Macon. About $80 million in federal earmarks for this project await action on Georgia’s part.

No major improvements, road or rail, will come easily. In these times, hard choices must be made about spending. Paying for trains means we spend less elsewhere. Surely, though, we can at least begin making incremental improvements.

We must act on the most efficient ways to move people and goods. That can mean using rail lines as economic development tools much as we’ve used roads in the past.

Andre Jackson,
for the Editorial Board

Atlanta Forward: In coming weeks and months, we will look at major issues Atlanta must address in order to move forward as the economy recovers. Look for the designation “Atlanta Forward,” which will identify these discussions.