Quote Of The Day

Charlie Harper on how politicians frequently skew budgetary priorities:

Georgia could spend $20 Million on fishing, but it couldn’t spend money on teachers.  On veterans.  On trauma care. Go fish represents the last Governor’s monument to misplaced priorities

Charlie's article expands on this most recent example of appropriations infamy to explore the upcoming transportation vote and the proposed new Falcons stadium.Well worth the read.

Playing Mad Max On N. Highland

Creative Loafing's Gwynedd Stuart gets many things right in her article about daily conflict between drivers and pedestrians in Virginia Highland.

Atlanta is not a pedestrian friendly city. Sidewalks are sparse and multi-lane thoroughfares, even in the city core are numerous. Also, even on the never ending autobahns we call interstates, we text, apply makeup, read and stuff our faces with pounds of fast food flesh.

In a pedestrian dense neighborhood like Virginia Highland, it is down right frightening.

HOWEVER.

There are also some special factors about Virginia Highland which should be considered.

Between Ponce and Los Angeles, there are no fewer than 10 pedestrian crossings with a significant number placed mid-block. It would be interesting to research the genesis of this high frequency. I imagine it has something to do with it being an "entertainment district".

The result of this overcompensation is drivers start, stop, repeat process for the full 1.5 miles. It can be frustrating for the most patient driver.

But this is a mild annoyance compared to the far more dangerous game of Frogger played by the pedestrians.

I will not go so far to claim the previous point is causation for this one, but despite being blessed with abundance of crossings, Virginia Highland pedestrians have a peculiar laissez faire attitude about where to cross the street.

 It doesn't matter the conditions; light, dark, sunshine, raining., hail of frogs, it is inevitable that a drive down Highland will result in a sudden stop due to a pedestrian darting between cars to dash across the street.

Sunday, returning from my farm in south Georgia, I witnessed near tragedy. A car was inching its way out of Yeah Burger, attempting to turn left onto southbound Highland. Of course, the driver was looking to his right to avoid being boned like a T. At the same time, a gentlemen who was drunk/texting/generally oblivious began walking at a diagonal from the Taco Mac towards the other side of the street.

The car saw an all clear and gunned it. I do not exaggerate in saying that a life was spared by two humans suddenly becoming aware of a vast world outside their tiny existence, a quick swerve of the car and hilarious pirouette by the walker.

It is law that cars stop for pedestrians and any suggestion otherwise should be castigated. However, it is also law that pedestrians use the crosswalks and in this particular neighborhood it's almost impossible to avoid them.

But most important of all, if you are a couple hundred pounds of soft flesh, can we expect a smidgen of common sense instead of proudly strutting arrogance when you cross paths with 2000 pounds of twisted steel? As Gwynedd also notes, the law won't matter one smidge if you a smudge on the pavement.

The Long Suffering Of Gwinnett County

4 days.

Practically every year, MARTA and Grady step before the government of the great state of Georgia, hat in hand, and beg for a few crumbs to stave off fiscal starvation. They are met with tut-tuts, accusations of poor management and disdain for their very existence. Usually, they leave with an empty hat.

After four days of suffering the indignity and inconvenience of the HOT lanes, Governor Deal heard the terrible cries of the Gwinnett commuters and not only promised reduced tolls but pledged to ask for a waiver to kill the occupancy requirements which are key to the programs success.

At least we now know the weak member of the pack. We will have no problem identifying who to cut loose when the lions come.

TSPLOST Is Lose/Lose For Fulton And Dekalb

It is rare that I note the writings of a commenter; especially a commenter on another site. But I've "known" Dave Bearse for a long time and know his musings usually have value.

His analysis of the effect of the upcoming TSPLOST on the residents of Fulton and Dekalb is spot on.

The Tea Party-GOP base position is pretty simple. Fulton and DeKalb paying twice as much as everyone else for regional transportation, three times as much as everyone else combined for transit, and ten times as much as Tea Party strongholds like Cherokee County, is a transportation handout to Fulton and DeKalb slackers.

The math is pretty easy, even for graduates of Georgia’s K-12 system.

Fulton and DeKalb’s 1% MARTA and 1% T-SPLOST equal 2%, every one else 1% for regional transportation.

T-SPLOST is 50-50% transit-roads. (Before anyone points out it’s 55-45, note that the 15% being returned to counties for use at their own discretion is likely to be tilted toward roads.) Fulton and DeKalb 1% MARTA and 0.5% T-SPLOST transit equal 1.5%, everyone else collectively 0.5% T-SPLOST transit.

Now examine the T-SPLOST as it concerns Cherokee County, an easy choice because Cherokee County has only a few large T-SPLOST road projects totaling $200,000,000. Then consider that the T-SPLOST will return about $60,000,000 to Cherokee County, and that will be very heavily tilted toward roads. (The $60M is a back of the napkin figure but a reasonable order of magnitude.) The first result is that the T-SPLOST will return about three-quarters of the Cherokee County T-SPLOST contribution wholly within the County.

(Not fair you say, Cherokee isn’t getting all they paid in? The $260,000,000 in Cherokee County road improvements won’t much benefit anyone but those that live in Cherokee County. How many people from metro Atlanta that don’t live in Cherokee County travel in Cherokee County on any given day? Almost no one. Meanwhile half of the people that reside in Cherokee County and are employed travel outside of Cherokee County to their employment.)

The second result is that one-half (50-50 transit-roads split) of the one-quarter of 1% Cherokee County T-SPLOST funds that aren’t returned to Cherokee County will go to regional transit, one-half or one-quarter is one-eighth of 1%. Fulton and DeKalb paying 1.5% for transit are paying more than 10 times more. Sure Fulton and DeKalb should pay much more, but the factor of 10 illustrates the ridiculousness of the Tea Pary and its control of the Georgia GOP.

Fulton and DeKalb voters will be voting no on the T-SPLOST too. A yes vote simply empowers the Tea Party panderers that control the Georgia GOP.

Bottom line: if TSPLOST passes, Fulton and Dekalb residents will be double taxed and  those who believe they will never use public transit or it will have no effect on our infrastructure ills will still say their tax money is being used for ITP boondoggles.

Fulton and Dekalb cannot win.

Convince me I'm wrong, transportation advocates.

My Morning Wooten

Let us dance one more time. I love it when Jim whines about transportation.

Propose a transportation sales tax increase, as Georgia legislators have done, and the visionaries spending other peoples’ money start planning monuments, and costly ones at that. Cobb County commissioners have given the county’s transportation director authority to try to sell a 14-mile light-rail line, projected to cost at least $2 billion, running from the Galleria to Town Center near Kennesaw. Please. Fix the bottlenecks. Make traffic move. Put the money where it produces the greatest benefit to the most people.

In other words, lay down more pavement on the widest section of the entire interstate system.

My Morning Wooten

We've got a whopper today.

Linking Ga. 400 north of Atlanta to I-675 on the south by tunneling, and making it a toll road, is a cracker-jack idea. It’s one of the top toll projects the state Department of Transportation is pitching to private investors and road-construction companies. But watch how quickly opponents will inject race, a staple of Atlanta policy-making. Already, it’s cast that way because the tunnel would go under old, established neighborhoods and then surface south of I-20 “where demographic data show the population is less wealthy and less white.” Ah, Atlanta. What might we have achieved had every public policy decision not devolved into race?

A cracker jack idea. I'm sure it is for those intent on shaving 15 minutes off their ride to the airport but don't give two damns about anything inside the perimeter unless they are chattering over a performance at Chastain or visiting Grady following another horrific wrapping of a too fast car around a tree by their precious teenager.

But that' not what really stands out is it? Jim's final question squats there like a three day dead frog ready to explode in a shower of rotten innards.

To find an answer let us time travel to 40 years ago.

It was a time when Atlanta's population was just creeping past one million, the current location of Gwinnett Place Mall was a cow pasture and the region was on the verge of creating a world class public transit system. Instead, due to fears of a "bad element" reaching their suburban enclaves, the counties of Gwinnett, Clayton and Jim's favorite, Cobb, opted to not join the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. Today, instead of a robust adult public transportation system on par with other major cities, we are left with the equivalent of a lobotomized teenager drooling in the corner.

So, yes. Let's ponder that question deep and long. What might we have achieved had every public policy decision not devolved into race?

Spock Beard Day

The episode introduces the alternate reality "Mirror Universe" concept in Star Trek for the first time. The episode has a transporter mishap swapping Captain Kirk and his companions with their evil counterparts in a parallel universe. In the so-called Mirror Universe, the Enterprise is a ship of the Terran Empire rather than the United Federation of Planets, promotions are earned by assassination, and Mr. Spock has a goatee. ~Wikipedia Entry for "Mirror, Mirror"

Yesterday, I called Jim Wooten reasonable.

Icarus recommended everyone read Jay Bookman.

Today, Erick Erickson advocated rail.

Welcome to the mirror universe.

Millar On Marta

Rep. Fran Millar (R-Land of Reasonable Republicans) has a fantastic AJC opinion piece laying out the reasoning for a state takeover of MARTA.

This is our one chance to get away from a department of highways and have a meaningful department of transportation. With this new MARTA financial data, any reasonable person must conclude that Fulton and DeKalb can no longer carry this burden alone. I would hope Fulton and DeKalb representatives and senators would agree with me and insist that MARTA be folded into any comprehensive transit solution.

Talk of the state taking over the beleaguered transportation system always makes Fulton and Dekalb nervous. Much like last years "Grady Wars", it is easy to feel resentment from shouldering the burden for decades only to have the Legislature ride in and say "we'll show you how it's done" (looking your way Rep. Ehrhart).

But as Dick Williams noted on Sunday's Georgia Gang (and in a certain way proved my point from last week), Dekalb has a distinct disadvantage in securing federal road dollars by having 1 cent of the sales tax mandated to Marta. Cobb, Gwinnet and others, not hobbled in such a manner, gleefully slop lane after lane of blacktop from the Fed trough.

We are far past time for a regional solution and it is time to put aside old grudges and petty arrogance. If this is the first step towards solving the vexing problem, and as long as grown-ups like Millar are leading, it should be pursued.

Mayoral Candidates On Transportation

Lest you ever think I've cornered the market on full bore snark blasts, check out Joeventures recap of last night's Atlanta Mayoral candidate forum.

Each of the candidates is, in each their own way, uniquely unqualified to be Atlanta’s next mayor. However, I have to congratulate them for running. Thanks to poor governance from the State, truncated city limits and — to put it diplomatically — “constituent issues,” Atlanta is extraordinarily difficult to govern. So my hats off to anyone who wants a job that no sane person should ever want.

That makes me want to quiver in a ball and cry! And I've been accused of being a ruthless s-o-b so many times I've lost count!

Joe is an unabashed transportation progressive (he and I have clashed on the issue in the past), but has a keen sense of smell when it comes to politicians attempting to manure the flowers. And he has no problem flinging it right back from whence it came.

A Possible Solution

A quick thought.

John Oxendine's loopy idea to re-ignite the intown Interstate fight awakened a long dormant idea.

What we need are two limited access highways, one connecting Forsyth (the town not the county) to Cartersville on the west side and to Commerce on the east side. These arteries would divert shipping traffic from both the ports of Savannah and Brunswick.

It's simple. We need to get the tractor-trailers off the perimeter.

Kicking An Ant Hill

John Oxendine has a solution to Atlanta's traffic problem.

The nicest thing I can say is at least it isn't the loopy double-decker, 27 mile tunnel Connector idea.

He wants to build a second connector on the east side of Atlanta.

If you look here at the map, you can actually see we could build a connector — a parallel connector — running from the 400/85 corridors, going through [East Atlanta]…

Been there, done that, got the tree hugging chains to prove it.

The problem with Commissioner Oxendine's idea is that it was tried in the 70's when Georgia 400 was originally planned to connect to what is now I-675. It then reared its ugly head again with the Carter Parkway fight. Both times, the intown neighborhoods rose in a furor and defeated some of the most powerful political forces in the state. (History of Ga-400 on Wikipedia)

Do you really think it would be any different this time? I can almost hear the rattle of chains as grannies begin picking out trees in the paths of bulldozers.

Ramp Meters

The ramp meters are coming! The ramp meters are coming!

Ramp meters are traffic lights that are intended to control the number of vehicles entering and exiting the highway. They are to reduce traffic congestion on the ramps.

Between the Downtown Connector re-paving project and the recent destruction of the venerable 14th Street bridge, Atlanta seems to be swirling in an orgy of transportation experimentation. Now, the already addled speed demons of the autobahns will be forced to pay attention to "stop lights" on interstate on-ramps.

When these silent guardians popped up on my side of the perimeter, I pondered the madness which lay just over the horizon.

I remain cautiously optimistic. Previously, I was skeptical about roundabouts but having seen the effectiveness of the Lullwater/N. Decatur intersection, I am now their advocate. We can all only hope the ramp meters will also exceed expectations.

If not, at least we will have some fun with the new demolition derby mashup.

Walkscore

Given the state of transportation in Atlanta and all the talk of multi-use development, I thought this was pretty cool.

Walkscore

Try your house. Then try various neighborhoods. Say what you will about Atlantic Station but so far it has the highest score of anything I've found in the ATL.

Hat tip to my absent friend Don who is currently wandering around Oz.

Passing Gas

In this week's Creative Loafing, Joe ponders the question of what will do the emissions from all these tunnels certain "transportation consultants" are suggesting as solutions to Atlanta's traffic woes.

Robert Poole, director of transportation studies for the Reason Foundation, told the Legislature's House Transportation Committee that the tunnels would "avoid any interference with the neighborhoods and land uses" and have "no impact on traffic in any of those neighborhoods." At that meeting, he failed to mention there would be structures to ventilate emissions from the tunnel, but acknowledged in an interview with CL that "there would definitely have to be a ventilation system."

And lest you think these tunnel ideas are limited to the interstates, don't forget what one "consultant recommended for the Sembler project at the intersection of North Druid Hills and Briarcliff.

They Want To Do What?!

The already controversial Sembler Project on North Druid Hills Road just got a little hotter and a lot weirder.

A consultant brought in by non-profit Livable Communities Coalition to try to find a way to bring the neighborhood and the developer into the sphere of agreement has proposed submerging a portion of the area's road grid. Not kidding.

What is this latest obsession with underground roads?

A sidenote. Who spearheaded hiring said consultant? Commissioners Kathy Gannon and Jeff Rader. This would be the same duo who fought so hard for passage of the rezoning of Emory Village to allow a four story multi-use development. Two controversial developments in less than two years. Makes you wonder who they are working for doesn't it?

I think this is a story the Drift will start following a little more closely.

Jim Wooten Has Lost His Mind

Nothing new for these parts, eh? Well, looney is as looney does.

Next year gridlock gets worse. The I-75/85 Downtown Connector gets repaved. That strip should be double-decked. Or tunneled. It is absolutely essential to develop a way to move traffic through Atlanta. It’s a nightmare bottleneck for north-south traffic.

Double decker highways? Tunneling? Can anyone, especially you so called conservatives, explain to me how anyone with a lick of sense can say these are reasonable solutions to moving traffic through Atlanta? Feel free to use cost or safety as one of your assuredly salient points.