The project to put optional toll lanes along I-75 and I-575 in Cobb and Cherokee counties is very much alive, according to state officials.
The state Department of Transportation, prompted by Gov. Nathan Deal, canceled bidding for it last month, sending shock waves through the state transportation community and sparking national press coverage. But Deal is now working with the state Department of Transportation to find a version of the project he will support.
“Even if it’s impossible for [road] capacity to keep up with growth, doing nothing is not an option,” Brian Robinson, a spokesman for Deal, wrote in an email Wednesday.
The issue popped for some legislators in transportation budget hearings at the Capitol on Wednesday. Sen. Renee Unterman, R-Buford, whose district includes the I-85 HOT lane, said that the cost of toll fees on a regular basis was "exorbitant" for most people.
State officials said they had no other choice but to look to optional toll lanes such as the I-75 project. State Transportation Planning Director Todd Long, who reports to Deal, said recently that Deal “was not against the project, he was against the methodology."
The physical project would remain the same, according to the DOT: two reversible toll lanes alongside I-75 from I-285 to I-575, and one reversible toll lane north of there, along I-75 to Hickory Grove Road and along I-575 to Sixes Road.
What would change is the financing: The government, rather than private companies, would pay for it, run it and reap the toll revenue. The toll money is not expected to cover the whole project cost, which approaches $1 billion. The question now is whether government can borrow enough on favorable terms, and come up with enough tax money.
“The financial plan is the challenge,” said Keith Golden, interim commissioner at the DOT. Asked if he was certain the project would eventually be built, Golden said only that he was certain the DOT would come up with a plan that was “feasible.”
Under the project canceled last year, private companies would have leased and operated the road for more than 50 years. The overall project cost is currently estimated at $800 million to $900 million, according to Golden, with the cost of financing as yet uncertain.
Deal inherited the privately funded project when he came into office, and he had given it his halting support. State officials said The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's coverage initiated the conversations that led to the public-private project being pulled.
The AJC reported in May that to accept the private companies' funding, the state would have to sign a contract agreeing to limit building new roads in the project corridor, for decades. Such contracts protect the private companies from unexpected congestion relief that could lower their toll revenue.
When the project was being approved for bidding, Deal raised that concern and halted the bid. A couple of days later, he let it proceed.
Then in November, the AJC reported that congestion relief from the project was expected to be limited at best for those who stay in the regular lanes, according to state predictions, and that traffic could be slightly worse for many.
A month later, the DOT canceled the bidding. Deal in his State of the State address said he was "opposed to contracting away Georgia’s sovereignty for a period of 60 to 70 years" on the road.
Golden conceded that congestion relief for most drivers is not the goal; instead it's to give them a choice, he said. Indeed, for those who pay the toll, speeds could more than double.
Toll experts have pointed out that as a government-funded project, the state now assumes all the risk: the risk of something going wrong on the project, and the risk of toll revenue not being enough. On the other side, the state is now not paying a private company's profit margin.
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