TRANSPORTATION: Agencies unite to beg state for help

The heads of four Georgia transportation agencies, which have spent years in turf battles, spoke with one voice Wednesday as they implored state government to help raise money to preserve Georgia’s transportation services.

Leaders of the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, the Georgia Department of Transportation and MARTA reeled off the drastic state of transportation budgets at a conference in downtown Atlanta on Wednesday, uniting in a desperate cry for action. They talked of lost jobs, cuts in services and delayed projects.

At the meeting’s end, the chairmen of those agencies said they would draft a letter to the governor and the Legislature affirming that the state is in danger of losing hundreds of thousands of potential jobs in the coming decades if transportation is left underfunded, and asking for the resources to address it.

The chairmen’s boards will have to vote to approve signing the letter. Members of the MARTA board spontaneously shouted out their approval at the conference.

The leaders acknowledged that their staffs sometimes still disagreed on specific issues, but said their cooperation was unprecedented. Michael Walls, chairman of MARTA’s board, said he felt “a sea change.”

“Three years ago, nothing like this would be happening,” he said.

Over the years, the agencies have periodically claimed to be reaching a new era of cooperation and always call each other “partners.” But a looming crisis threatening to doom them all seemed to bring them closer together.

“If you think the forecast is bright and sunny, I hope I’ve told you where we really are with transportation in Georgia,” said Gena Evans, commissioner of the state DOT, in one of the day’s presentations.

Evans said the Atlanta region would have to cut $888 million worth of projects from its plans for the current fiscal year. That’s after devastating cuts the region already made when it approved that plan in fall 2007. In addition, falling gas prices mean less revenue for DOT —- a loss that could reach $200 million in a year, said Evans’ spokeswoman, Ericka Davis.

MARTA, which depends heavily on a sales tax collected in Fulton and DeKalb counties and the city of Atlanta, may have to stop service on one rail line, Walls said.

As for roads, agencies are just beginning to discuss the list of possible project cuts with local jurisdictions. Expenses DOT suggested cutting from the region’s short-term list include rebuilding an unsafe bridge on Mitchell Street in downtown Atlanta that was closed to traffic, and vast sums of money for the toll project on I-75 and I-575. The projects would still be slated for construction funds, but years later.

The chairmen’s letter would officially support the conclusions of a study green-lighted by Gov. Sonny Perdue and commissioned by the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority. It found that after the 1980s, Georgia had underinvested in transportation, spending less per capita than all but one state, Tennessee. If Georgia did not invest in new transportation projects and strategies, it added, it could cost the state 320,000 potential jobs over the next 20 years, 230,000 of them in metro Atlanta.

Chairman Sonny Deriso of GRTA, which is controlled by Perdue, suggested writing the letter. He said that Perdue had been “intimately involved in all of this” and he would address the study himself eventually.

“We have two major speeches coming up next week,” said Bert Brantley, a spokesman for Perdue, referring to the Eggs and Issues breakfast on Tuesday and the State of the State address. “I think he’ll certainly talk about transportation and where his vision is.”