If a board led by Gov. Sonny Perdue votes Friday to keep the tolls on Ga. 400 after 2011, it will be breaking the promises state officials made in years past.

But it also will be creating a revenue stream, largely under control of a board the governor chairs, that could build several projects the state can’t afford to do now.

The big winner likely would be the Ga. 400 interchange at I-85 in Buckhead.  But other projects stretching all the way north to Forsyth County might benefit, too, according to a suggested list of $67 million worth of projects obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Preliminary engineering might be done on managed lanes -- such as high-occupancy toll lanes -- from I-285 up to McFarland Road.  In addition, Mansell Road, Holcomb Bridge Road and others could see computerized traffic improvements, turn lanes or other projects.  And an express commuter bus route made the list, but not MARTA's rail line that runs in the middle of Ga. 400.

The State Road and Tollway Authority board, chaired by Perdue, and the state Department of Transportation's board are each scheduled to meet Friday and discuss the Ga. 400 toll.  DOT would decide whether to keep leasing Ga. 400 to SRTA, and SRTA would then decide whether to keep the toll.  The listed projects might not even be part of the vote, and are subject to change.  A SRTA spokeswoman, Malika Reed Wilkins, called them a "short list," and said the public could comment on them for 30 days.

SRTA provided the list under the Georgia Open Records Act.

The toll is a hot-button issue. Two decades ago when officials were trying to convince Atlantans to support the extension of Ga. 400 south of I-285 with a toll, they promised that the toll would come down after the bonds were paid off in 2011.  Now that 2011 approaches, the state is having second thoughts.

Donyell Smith, a Sandy Springs truck driver who knows the toll plaza well, said last week that he didn’t care what projects it built, keeping the toll just wasn’t right. "Really it's just another example of how they're sucking every dime out of us," he said.

But others crave the projects. Sam Massell, who heads the Buckhead Coalition, would win the biggest take by far: completion of the interchange at I-85 and Ga. 400 that DOT estimates at $30 million to $40 million.

It’s the coalition's top priority, a great need for “people who live and work there as well as the thousands who travel through,” Massell said last week. “I take the opportunity to express appreciation to the governor for his leadership in this.”

However, a continued toll is not necessary to complete that interchange. When SRTA makes the last bond payment in 2011 it will still have $42.5 million in reserves. SRTA officials have pointed out though that it would cost money to dismantle the toll plaza.

Notably absent from the list:  reconstructing the interchange at I-285.  Building it is probably too expensive, at hundreds of millions of dollars.  But keeping the toll might take care of that, since it's possible a private consortium would be more interested in trying to rebuild that interchange years in the future if, in return, it had the right to toll all lanes of Ga. 400.

The projects

Nothing says this list can’t change. But in a document dated Sept. 8, these are the projects SRTA suggested funding with the Ga. 400 toll revenues.  More than one item was listed as No. 6.

1. Ga. 400 and I-85 connector ramps

Cost: $40 million

Anticipated completion date: 2013

2. Ga. 400 southbound to I-85 southbound merge

$500,000

2011

3. Preliminary engineering for Ga. 400 widening, McFarland Road. to Ga. 20

$4 million

2013

4. Preliminary engineering for Ga. 400 managed lanes -- possibly high-occupancy toll lanes -- from I-285 to McFarland Road

$8 million

2014

5. Ga. 400 northbound third transition lane extension at McFarland Road

$3 million

2012

6. Ga. 400 intelligent transportation systems -- traffic monitoring -- and HERO, McFarland Road to Ga. 20

Capital cost: $1.9 million

Annual operating cost: $110,000

2011-2012

6. Holcomb Bridge Road, Ga. 9 to Barnswell Road, Advanced Transportation Management Systems. This might mean upgrades to traffic signal timing or other types of projects.

$574,000

2014

6. Mansell Road triple left turn lane

$389,000

2011

6. GRTA Express Service in the corridor

Annual operating cost: $175,000

(This currently exists, but GRTA will run out of funds by 2013.)

6. Ga. 400 northbound ramp extension at Abernathy

$2 million

2012

11. Improvements for Northridge at Ga. 400

$7 million

2013

"Wild card": Ga. 400 and McGinniss Ferry Road interchange

Reserve funding for buying land: $15.9 million

2017

This project will not be in the "initial list," according to Wilkins.

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