The Atlanta Regional Commission on Wednesday approved the region's 30-year plan to spend $60.9 billion on transportation projects and manage growth.
That transportation list is unrelated to the list being drawn up for a sales tax referendum next year.
ARC updates the plan every three or four years and last did so in 2007. Since then it has had to cut $7 billion from the plan as revenue continued to shrink. Those cuts included road and highway projects.
The region is expected to be home to 8.3 million people by the year 2040, according to ARC. The new plan, called Plan 2040, spends billions of local, state and federal dollars on road widening and mass transit, and it aims to manage the expected population growth by choosing those projects in a coordinated way. ARC called it "a blueprint for improving mobility, protecting natural resources, promoting balanced and sustainable development and growing the economy." Programs include the "Livable Communities Initiative," which awards planning grants and transportation funding for sustainable town plans.
The plan passed overwhelmingly. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed voted against the plan, saying it didn't spend enough on mass transit. The spending choices in the plan are not made only by ARC, but also by local agencies and governments, and often are dictated by law. For example, state gas taxes cannot be spent on mass transit.
For more information and to see the project list, go to atlantaregional.com.
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