Atlanta once did a fine job with freeways around the city. The city has since matured and politics and special-interest groups have entered the picture. T-SPLOST is nothing but a public brainwashing technique to fund special-interest groups at the expense of several counties that will have the next generation paying for something that will be very expensive and ineffective.
Worst of all, politicians love to spend other people’s money and listen to the wrong people for the wrong reasons. Most people listen to what is told to them by the media and that sounds nice to them because they don’t know all the facts, but they do not realize how costly and ineffective these proposals are. T-SPLOST is not the way and is an unending cost.
The right way is to apply engineering economics which results in comparing the improvement in transportation time for the maximum number of people relative to the investment cost plus the total interest cost over the lifetime of all projects.
After making these calculations for the upcoming vote, it will be obvious that there are many better ways to reduce their total travel time at their least cost for the maximum number of people.
MARTA is nothing but 19th-century transportation concepts with a 20th-century façade. The people using it only pay about 5 percent to 10 percent of the cost — a true analysis of data and calculations will come up with the exact number — while taxpayers in many counties fund the balance. It does not save them total travel time and only takes them from one inconvenient station to another at an inconvenient time.
We can’t afford to stick the next generation with unreasonable costs for poorly thought out road projects that politicians and special interest groups dream up. We need engineering studies by nonpolitical unprejudiced engineers to determine the worst bottlenecks and establish the most cost effective solutions that gas taxes will pay for without long-term borrowing. A lot can be done at intersections by timing of stoplights and adding special turning lanes.
These high-priced toll lanes for a privileged few created more traffic congestion for many others, thus providing excuses for the government to add additional taxes for additional lanes.
Why not fix the congested entrance/exit areas first and when the economy picks up, add regular lanes where needed? I don’t believe tollways are as cost- efficient as regular lanes when all costs are taken into account.
It is time for the people to rise up against the T-SPLOST and its governing legislation, the Transportation Investment Act (TIA). It will be an unending cost. It is time to come up with a practical Plan B. Vote “No” on the T-SPLOST boondoggle and then investigate which politicians need to be replaced.
Arne R. Jorgenson, an engineer, is a member of the Tea Party. He lives in Canton.
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