Excerpts from Ga. House Resolution 1573, authorizing the Joint Study Committee on Critical Transportation Infrastructure Funding:
Whereas, Georgia is home to the world’s busiest airport, fastest growing seaport, ninth-largest transit system, third-largest freight rail network in the United States, and 6.5 million drivers who travel 108.5 billion miles each year; and …
Whereas, transportation is essential to commerce and the provision of goods and services to the people across this state, to getting Georgia’s citizens to the workplace and medical and educational facilities, to the tourism industry, to the freight and logistics industry, and to every facet of the lives of Georgia’s citizens; and WHEREAS, the federal government has demonstrated an increasing inability to deliver a consistent, predictable transportation funding environment; and
Whereas, Georgia’s growth rate is twice the national average; and
Whereas, Georgia’s transportation investment per capita is less than most of her regional neighbors; and
Whereas, traffic congestion in Georgia is projected to increase by 25 percent in the next seven years; and
Whereas, Georgia’s transportation leadership has predicted that current funding levels can, at best, cover 50 percent of our greatest needs; and
Whereas, new sources and methods of funding transportation projects are needed to allow the transportation systems in Georgia to keep up with the needs of the population; and
Whereas, the General Assembly needs to study these issues to determine funding mechanisms for road transportation projects in Georgia. …
Be it further resolved that the committee shall undertake a study of the conditions, needs, issues, and problems mentioned above or related thereto and make specific legislative recommendations for consideration in the next legislative session.
From a Q&A during the Joint Study Committee’s Aug. 5 kickoff meeting:
State Sen. David Lucas, D-Macon, questioning political risk of possible tax hikes with speaker Michael Sullivan, chairman of the Georgia Transportation Alliance “You can’t take the politics out of politics. Are you willing to go out front? When the naysayers are out there, where will you be?”
Sullivan: “We will be right out there on the front lines, taking the bullets for you.”
