For nearly 30 years, I have held elective office in Georgia and been involved, at one level or another, in shaping and implementing public policy. For 10 years, I had the power of a small-town mayor; for another 16, the influence of a state legislator. Now, as the new chairman of the State Transportation Board, I have perhaps my greatest opportunity to make a difference.
Georgia is a special place to live and work. Whether it remains so depends to a great extent on what we do about transportation in the days ahead. Our coming transportation decisions will shape our economy and quality of life for generations to come — in small towns and rural counties such as my hometown of Lakeland in Lanier County; in busy, crowded Atlanta; and in cities and counties of all sizes in between.
To a large extent, we already know the things we need to do; the things we’d like to do – make our roads safer; expand metro Atlanta’s managed-lane system, its transit options and pedestrian facilities; launch a robust passenger rail system; build more economic development highways in rural areas; develop a designated network of freight corridors to serve our logistics industry; and help the state’s general aviation airports grow.
That’s an agenda representing many tens of billions of dollars — dollars we don’t have and won’t get from our existing funding sources. Forty-six proactive Georgia counties took a step forward last year by approving Transportation Investment Act (TIA) Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax investments in their communities. But 46 of 159 aren’t near enough. We will soon need to revisit – and resolve – how we intend to pay for the transportation system we want and need.
Before that, however, the Georgia Department of Transportation has work to do. The TIA vote last summer opened our eyes to a deep disconnect between the department and its constituents. We learned the transportation board and department must convince legislators, local elected officials and the public that we are good partners and trustworthy stewards of their money, and that they really would get something worthwhile in return for any new transportation investment.
That is my most immediate priority as chairman. Georgia DOT is, after all, a taxpayer-funded, customer service industry. It has more than 4,000 talented and dedicated employees, but in the course of complying with all the rules and regulations imposed upon it, the department can lose focus on customer service. It is not a problem unique to Georgia DOT.
The public has shown time and again at all levels of government that it will no longer tolerate poor service. If the transportation board and department expect to someday be given the resources to do all those things I outlined earlier as critical to our future, we first must prove to our many audiences that every decision we make, and every dollar we spend, is in their collective best interest. Do that, and everything else will take care of itself.
That’s why keeping Georgia DOT consumer-friendly is my Job One.
Jay Shaw is chairman of the state transportation board.
