Amid a nationwide tour to promote transportation investment, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx met with Atlanta leaders Wednesday to visit the city’s flashiest federally funded transit projects: the Atlanta Streetcar and Atlanta Beltline.
Foxx visited Atlanta as part of an eight-state, five-day “Invest in America, Commit to the Future” campaign to promote President Barack Obama’s $302 billion transportation reauthorization bill.
Hopping off a charter bus, Foxx met with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, MARTA Chief Keith Parker and others for a sneak peek of the streetcar. The streetcar’s four-car system was largely built with a $47.6 million federal transportation grant and is set to open sometime this year.
Foxx later stood at the Beltline’s flagship project — the Eastside Trail and adjacent Historic Fourth Ward Park — to tout the need for investment in transportation nationwide. Atlanta received an $18 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to build a 2.5-mile trail of the Beltline in Southwest.
Warning of “exponential population growth” coming to the South, Foxx said the region needs federal funding to accommodate current and future transportation problems.
“Travel times with growth will increase unless you create more ways for people to get around,” he said.
Addressing the congestion will “require multi-modal solutions, good planning and a good partnership with the federal government,” he said.
To that end, he called for support of the $302 billion transportation bill, saying without it, “The money is going run out.”
National surface transportation programs are set to expire and the country’s Highway Trust Fund is nearly depleted.
Foxx said the Beltline is “what the president refers to when he says the ladders of opportunity,” adding the project is designed to connect geographically and economically disparate communities.
The Atlanta Beltline, set to be completed by 2030, aims to transform dilapidated land into a 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit. Part of the plan calls for an expansion of streetcar lines around the city, connecting with MARTA and the soon-to-open streetcar system.
The project faces tough financial pressures, however, and has stated its need for federal funds to realize its $4 billion plan. The Beltline is funded by a tax allocation district, local and federal grants and public and private philanthropy.
The tour — which lasted about an hour between both projects — had but one hiccup. Just as Reed and Foxx prepared to enter a streetcar, the doors failed to open. A streetcar worker pried them open and held them wide as the men toured the interior.
“Y’all are killing me,” Reed joked amid laughter.
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