The Georgia Department of Transportation selected its design/build/finance partner recently for the coming redevelopment of the I-285/Ga. 400 interchange. GDOT Commissioner Russell McMurry brought the successful bidders, North Perimeter Contractors, to a business community leadership luncheon two weeks ago to celebrate and recognize this milestone.
“This project will annually save commuters eight hours and employers $100 million in lost productivity and will reduce accidents in the crash-prone corridor,” McMurry told a packed ballroom during the Perimeter Business Alliance luncheon.
As outlined by McMurry, the critical project will also realize significant savings to original estimates, at a revised project cost of less than $700 million. The winning bidders, a consortium of engineering, construction and contracting firms based in North America and Spain, identified significant savings in building out two projects simultaneously: the new interchange, and several miles of collector/distributor lanes.
As McMurry introduced Jeffrey Wagner of Ferrovial Agroman, lead contractor on the winning bid team, Wagner noted the company, like many other global enterprises, already has a regional headquarters at Perimeter Center in Dunwoody, a few blocks from the site of the new interchange.
“Our leadership for the entire eastern U.S. drives through the project every day,” Wagner said. “This project will have real and daily impact on us as well.”
Early in 2015, our Perimeter Community Improvement Districts and the Business Alliance committed $10 million toward some of the first hard construction dollars on this project. Besides asking for transportation improvements, we are putting skin in the game and delivering for Gov. Nathan Deal’s top transportation priority.
McMurry acknowledged there will still be congestion along I-285, while sharing his expectation that the improvements and expansion should absorb continuing growth in the Ga. 400 corridor for the next 20 years.
This project will be cutting-edge in many ways, he said, with a PATH 400 multi-use trail system crossing through the interchange; a proactive, transparent communications program alerting area employers, commuters and visitors to alternate routes, construction hours and transit options; and project funding through innovative partnerships with the State Roads & Tollway Authority and the Perimeter CIDs as well as the design/build partner.
This funding mechanism will eliminate the need for bond funding, reducing the overall project cost for Georgia taxpayers.
It might be easy, given the project’s near certainty of funding, to now sit back and watch our long held-dream become reality. But we also realize that staying on top is almost as hard as getting there. For our Perimeter Center to remain Georgia’s Fortune 1000 address of choice, and to increase its allure as the live-work-play community of metro Atlanta’s golden arc, we need to look ahead to what should come next:
• Bus rapid transit/light rail: Connecting the business/population centers along the Perimeter top end with rapid-transit express buses or light rail — along or above existing right-of-way from The Assembly under construction in Doraville, west through Perimeter Center, and continuing west to Cobb Galleria Centre — has been discussed for more than a decade. Putting numbers to this vision, and conducting alternative analyses on potential passenger demand, seem logical next steps.
• Circulator systems: With more than 100,000 commuters entering and leaving Perimeter Center each day (as opposed to permanent residents), relieving street-level congestion and reducing the use of single-occupancy vehicles will require expanding and enhancing existing assets, such as our three MARTA stations and the coming PATH trail extensions; and new transportation options, such as a bus circulator or above-ground systems including monorails, sky bridges or moving sidewalk trams.
• New transit funding mechanisms: MARTA is now a draw for our center and a major consideration for future employers. Discussions should begin now on how to fund other transit system expansions, including suggestions by MARTA for an additional half-cent sales tax within its service territory of Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton counties.
Leadership in transportation and other venues requires vision, commitment and a willingness to learn new ways to do things. At Perimeter Center, business leaders are happily celebrating these big wins, collaborations and successes, but also are cognizant that challenges remain. Assessing the path ahead remains our most prudent path to future, similar celebrations. The Perimeter CIDs will continue to be at the table with a hand up, not a hand out.
Yvonne Williams is president and CEO of the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts.
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