Whether it’s the ports, trains, transit or roads throughout Georgia, our transportation infrastructure carries Georgia’s economy.
While there are many important industries in Georgia, very few would be successful without our decades of transportation investment. Without making future investment in transportation for the 21st century a priority, we will not be able to attract businesses and jobs that will define success for future generations. Congestion is the symptom; inability to grow quality jobs is the disease.
Georgia and our nation are at the proverbial crossroads. With improved vehicle fuel efficiency, electric vehicles and smarter trips being taken, the existing state and federal gas tax funding system for transportation is not enough to maintain, let alone expand, our transportation infrastructure. And while we applaud Georgia’s innovative use of private-public partnerships to build managed lanes and other needed improvements like diverging-diamond interchanges, even they require the public to pay significantly more than half of the construction costs.
As transportation projects are years in the making and require defined funding sources, the time to act is now.
First, Congress must approve a long-term federal transportation reauthorization bill. As more than half of Georgia’s Department of Transportation funds are derived from the federal gas tax, these funds must be defined so as to allow the planning process to occur.
Second, the Georgia state legislative study committee looking at transportation infrastructure funding must ensure balanced metrics are used. If immediate congestion relief is the only metric by which investments are considered, that will come at the expense of alternative transportation options needed for 21st century job growth.
Value is the metric that cuts through all transportation modes — those transportation investments that improve our communities, support better employment opportunities and make our streets safer.
I am hopeful Congress and the Georgia Legislature will get the job done. This is evidenced by U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx’s promoting passage of the reauthorization act during his recent visit to Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal’s and the Legislature’s leadership in finding effective funding solutions for the state, and Mayor Kasim Reed advocating for creative transportation solutions that benefit not just Atlanta, but all of Georgia.
Some may call it triage, but I believe these “doctors of transportation” working together will prescribe the correct treatment to put Georgia on the road to transportation recovery.
Robert F. Dallas is former director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety and vice chairman of the Dunwoody Planning Commission.
