Todd Long has his work cut out for him.
As Georgia’s transportation planning director, he is the point person who can help make or break the Atlanta region’s transportation tax referendum — the state’s one shot to help right the poor planning wrongs of the past four decades.
Long is currently vetting the transportation wish lists submitted by each of the 10 counties that comprise the Atlanta Regional Commission, consolidating similar projects and eliminating requests that don’t comply with the state’s intent to fund only cohesive, regionally beneficial projects.
Unfortunately, many of the lists read like glorified SPLOST initiatives — a hodgepodge of local, piecemeal projects — that would do little to address traffic congestion on a larger scale.
Furthermore, the smaller, localized projects lack pizzazz — and it’s going to take a mountain of magnetism to compel penny-pinching voters from Atlanta to Fayette County to approve an additional 1 percent sales tax over a 10-year span.
The state leaders who passed the Transportation Investment Act of 2010 knew as much, hence Long’s central role in this decision-making process.
Granted, this doesn’t sit well with local government officials, but they may be wise to accept Long’s recommendations.
For example, Cherokee County did a pretty good job by putting most of its eggs into a few larger, effective project baskets.
Four-laning Ga. 140 from Canton into north Fulton County would certainly alleviate many commuting headaches.
However, the county swung and missed on Bells Ferry Road. Instead of an underwhelming project, Long could suggest widening it all the way up to Ga. 20 (via Butterworth Road), creating a true north-south alternative to I-575 into Canton.
The combination of these two projects — one for east Cherokee, one for west Cherokee — would surely entice voters at the ballot box.
Inside the Perimeter, MARTA hatched the sensible idea to extend its Gold Line from the Doraville station to Oakcliff Road, which would provide easy, outside the Perimeter access to the rail system from I-85, Buford Highway and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
Unfortunately, MARTA’s many other proposals don’t pass the cost-versus-benefit test, which presents an ideological problem since mass transit is expected to be a cornerstone of the referendum.
This is where the state and Long can ride to the rescue with a win-win proposition — extend MARTA across the great Downtown Connector divide from its Arts Center station to Atlantic Station.
By building the first leg of this new “Orange Line” (for lack of a better color), MARTA would ease traffic congestion on the arterial roadways bridging Midtown to west Midtown.
In addition, a MARTA station located on the north side of Atlantic Station could be directly accessed from I-75 southbound and an abandoned freight railway overpass could possibly be modified to provide a direct, flyover bridge exit onto I-75 northbound.
As a result, many Cobb County commuters would be taken off crowded streets throughout Atlanta.
And, of course, an Atlantic Station MARTA station would provide a west-of-the-connector launching pad for future northwest commuter rail expansion, whether it’s built by MARTA or Cobb County’s proposed — yet currently unfeasible — light rail system.
Todd Long can, without question, give the underdog referendum a fighting chance.
Dave Henson is senior online editor at the Home Depot and lives in Woodstock.
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