Imagine zipping along the northern part of I-285 during rush hour on a rapid transit vehicle taking you to or from work while checking your BlackBerry and reading the daily newspaper. With more than 100,000 people commuting daily to the four-square-mile perimeter business district and projections indicating 35,000 more employees by 2018, safe, efficient, stress-free connections to major employment centers present an attractive option.
And, when the repaving starts soon on I-285 from the Ashford Dunwoody Road exit to the Chamblee Tucker Road exit, the thousands of employees and residents who use this corridor daily probably will wish such a travel alternative was available already.
While we’re thankful to the Georgia Department of Transportation for providing this much-needed road improvement, the project certainly will drive home the point that a transit alternative is as essential as good roads.
Seniors and young people alike are working together in cities across our country such as Charlotte, Phoenix, St. Louis, Portland and Dallas to support transit and other transportation enhancements for the future that embrace all the demographics and differences in their great regions. These cities are producing transportation success stories and Atlanta can create them, too.
When the first light rail line opened in late 2007 in Charlotte, 60,000 people waited in line — some for up to two hours — to ride. Ridership has almost doubled original expectations. Most passengers are new riders of public transit. And last fall, the mayor of Charlotte told the Tampa Tribune that the opening of the 9.6-mile LYNX LRT has resulted in the completion of $288.2 million in development near light rail stations and $522 million of development under construction, despite a veritable halt in growth since the recession hit in 2008. Local officials from cities across the country are now flocking to Charlotte to find out more.
Light rail offers a commuter alternative to and from downtown Charlotte, the nation’s second-largest financial center, investment that’s added to the tax base, and provides a powerful symbol that Charlotte invests in its future in a smart way, chamber president Bob Morgan told the Tribune.
Cities and counties that don’t provide similar commuter alternatives will be left behind. The Perimeter Community Improvement Districts, or PCIDs, see the availability of transit connections across the top end perimeter, one of metro Atlanta’s most congested areas, as a critical piece in providing economic stability and growth in the region.
The PCIDs have been working for nearly 10 years with various partners to bring east-west transit connections to the top end. A total of $15.7 million has been invested in this project to date. That includes $1.2 million from the PCIDs and the Cumberland CID for a feasibility study; a $500,000 federal appropriation from U.S. Rep. John Lewis with bipartisan support from other congressional partners, and $14 million from the Georgia Department of Transportation and the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority as part of “revive285 top end,” as the project is known.
The federal environmental impact statement process of adding transit and managed lanes along the top end already is under way and the purchase of right of way is included in the ARC’s Regional Transportation Plan 2040 for metro Atlanta.
Now, the PCIDs and the cities of Doraville, Chamblee and Dunwoody hope that right-of-way acquisition can be accelerated along with construction and operation of Perimeter to Doraville transit as part of the 2012 referendum project list. We see this as the first phase of a regional transit system that would be complementary to our partners on the eastern, western and northern quadrants of I-285. And this first phase is considered buildable in the 10 years required by the referendum.
Today, transit brings companies, jobs and office-retail developments to the area. In large traditionally suburban employment centers such as Perimeter, employers strongly support transit. They want large pools of qualified workers and if folks have difficulty getting to work because of traffic congestion, that limits the labor pool.
Members of the general public also were enthusiastic about the prospect of transit service for the top end corridor during the many opportunities to review the progress and make comments about the “revive285 top end” project. And transit will grow in importance in the future with the expected surge in Atlanta’s population and demographic changes such as the graying of the population and the strong youth segment.
What will transportation in the future look like in Atlanta? We hope on the top end it will mean commuters can get their hands off the wheel and have a shorter, less-stressful, safer and cost-saving ride.
Yvonne Williams is president and CEO of the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts.
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