Georgia Transportation Summit

Atlanta Area Technical College 6:00 -8:00pm Transportationion Investment Act information session sponsored by the Partnership for Southern Equity

Board Room
Clayton County Board of Commissioners
Clayton County Administration Building
112 Smith St.
Jonesboro, GA 30236
770-477-3208

If you are unable to attend the meeting in person, you can still participate online or tune in to channel 23 to watch on television.

At tonight’s final Public Meeting, Eldrin Bell and the Clayton County Commission will consider a substantial reallocation of funds to help make Georgia Commuter Rail a reality for the south side.

Come to tonight’s meeting to show your support for commuter rail. At registration, submit written questions and sign up for public comment in support of commuter rail; come early and speak up for the only rail project on the south side of our region!

GPR is gaining steam with its plan to bring true commuter rail to metro Atlanta and link the state’s top cities. Regional Roundtables in Macon and in Spalding County have both funded needed segments of this important rail line.

Be sure to read information on our improved approach and view maps of new alignments if you would like to make a public comment at this meeting. Read even more information about why rail transit makes sense for Atlanta, provided by Georgia Commuter Rail supporters Fair Share for Transit.

1. Polls, surveys and town hall meetings show that people from around the region want more transit.

• There are many examples, but two can illustrate.  First, in 10 Telephone Town Halls conducted June 13 – 22 by the Atlanta Regional Commission for the Regional Transportation Roundtable, with more than 134,000 total participants, area residents showed resounding support for new transit when asked:
  • Do you think new transit is critical to the long term success of the region?
    • 70.9% yes
    • 21.1% no

• Second, in a May 2010 poll of 400 voters conducted by Public Opinion Strategies/FM3 for Smart Growth America and the Livable Communities Coalition:
  • 63 percent said they would be more likely to vote for the sales tax if half or more of the revenues went toward transit/bike/sidewalk infrastructure.
  • More than half said the following projects were important to them:  maintaining roads, keeping transit affordable, increasing options for commuters, expanding options for seniors/disabled, and improving MARTA service.

2. Rail transit means business and jobs.

• Rail construction projects generate even more jobs than roads. A report published in February of this year analyzed the impact of federal stimulus spending on transportation projects.  It concluded that money spent on rail transit construction yielded 70 percent more job hours than the equivalent amount of money spent on road construction.
• Rail increases workers’ access to jobs. In Plan 2040, the Atlanta Regional Commission compares peak and off-peak travel times: “More than 3 million people can access downtown Atlanta, in 40 minutes or less, during off-peak periods. This decreases to 1.3 million people during peak travel periods. This shrinks the peak period travel shed to that of a smaller city, similar to Raleigh-Durham, Nashville and Charlotte.”  In other words, our region is throwing away what should be a major competitive business advantage – a bigger pool of workers from which companies can draw. By connecting people to major job centers like Midtown Atlanta and Cumberland/Cobb Galleria, rail will provide more people with predictable, rush hour-proof commutes to work.
• Metro Atlanta’s traffic problems are notorious, and rail helps manage traffic congestion.  Metro Atlanta’s traffic delays have been noted by Forbes magazine, the Texas Transportation Institute, and the Brookings Institution among many others. Meanwhile, a study of Denver’s southwest light rail line, where transit ridership jumped 2,000 people when the corridor was served by bus to 13,000 after the light rail line opened, estimated that the light rail line carried between 28 and 33 percent of corridor passenger traffic.
• Savvy business people watch their competitors, and metro Atlanta’s competitors are building rail. Dallas, Houston and Charlotte are building rail, and so are other Sunbelt cities such as Phoenix and Salt Lake City – even Los Angeles.  Even Los Angeles, which invented sprawl, is building rail, including subway, light rail and high-speed rail service.  That all comes on top of a bus system so extensive that it already makes Los Angeles No. 2 in the nation in terms of percentage of its population with access to transit.  Metro Atlanta is No. 85 on the same list.
• Gas prices can only rise over time, and rail can help insulate the region’s businesses and workers from gas price shocks. Regions that offer rail transit can offer workers – and their families and employers – valuable savings potential and convenient alternatives when gas prices rise, as they inevitably must.  Rail also meets a goal voiced in focus groups in metro Atlanta – reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil.

3. Rail ridership benefits everyone — even those who don’t ride.

A study of congestion along travel corridors with rail transit service in six cities found that “transit passengers saved 17,443 hours daily.  By removing these would-be motorists from highway segments with the same destinations as transit, transit saved motorists an additional 21,981 daily hours.”

4. Rail successfully expands the transit market.

Where it is available, rail competes favorably for riders of choice – riders who have cars but choose to ride rail transit.  In Chicago, for example, 85.6 percent of riders on the Metra commuter lines have a car available for their commutes but choose to ride Metra instead.  In San Diego, 41 percent of “trolley” light rail service customers have a car available and ride rail by choice.

5. Next year’s referendum is transit’s best shot to secure meaningful new funding.

Most state transportation spending is constitutionally limited to roads and bridges, so next year’s sale tax election is the only opportunity on the horizon for significant new public transportation funding.  It also creates opportunities to attract significant new federal matching funds – something Atlanta has not been able to do for decades.

6. Even with the projects proposed on the draft list, transit represents only 22 percent of total transportation spending over the next decade.

Total transportation spending over the next decade is expected to exceed $16 billion.  The proposed sales tax referendum would raise $6.14 billion for regional projects and another $1 billion for discretionary spending by counties.  Add to that the $9 billion that will likely be spent through the region’s customary Transportation Improvement Program, the usual source of funding for big road projects.  The amount proposed for transit in the draft list, $3.4 billion, is just 22 percent of that $16 billion.

7. Rail fits new development trends and increases property values.

Metro Atlanta will add half again as many people as it has now over the next 30 years – 2.8 million new residents in addition to the 5.3 million already here.  As new residents look for housing that is within reasonable commuting distance of jobs, the region will inevitably see much more of the denser development like the townhouse subdivisions that now dot our suburban as well as core counties; mid-rise and high-rise buildings in Midtown and Buckhead; and the mixed-use developments appearing near new town centers such as those in Smyrna, Lawrenceville, Marietta and Suwannee.  This movement toward walkable urban development is growing and serving this denser development pattern with only roads will become increasingly difficult.  Rail, on the other hand, thrives in serving denser development, and can provide big fiscal benefits as well.

• Rail best serves changing demographics.  By 2030, just 19 years out, one of every five area residents will be 60 years old or older.  Will driving be the only option we offer aging residents?
• Rail can raise property values. Proof can be found in cities ranging from Dallas to San Francisco.  In Dallas, properties near new light rail stations have risen by as much as 65 percent.  In the San Francisco Bay area, a study found that residential prices in one county rose $2.29 for every meter closer to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) rail service.  In another county, it was $1.96.  Overall, study authors estimated that homes immediately adjacent to a BART station sell for 38 percent more than ones without access to rail.

8. Metro Atlanta is already too big to be served by roads alone.

And it’s getting bigger.  The 2010 Census counted 5.3 million residents in the 20-county Atlanta region.   It’s expected that by 2030, just 19 years from now, our region will have 7.4 million people.  By 2040, our population will easily exceed 8 million.  The only American city of that size that didn’t have extensive rail service was Los Angeles – and that’s changing fast.

9. Special taxes should produce special results.  Rail offers the only fresh approach, the only true alternative.

Voters will want to know why they should vote for this penny tax.  While a portion of the proceeds should go to needed road projects, voters will also want to know that the region is changing old habits to  produce a different outcome this time.

The next step for the Atlanta Roundtable is to hold a series of public meetings for each county within each region. These meetings are your most important outlet to express why Georgia Commuter Rail should be on the Roundtable’s project list. We hope you’ll check the schedule and attend your local meeting to voice your concerns before the list becomes final in October.

Here is some additional information you should know:

• You can find the $6.14 billion project list as approved by the Atlanta Regional Roundtable here.
• The list does not include the total estimated cost of each project, but rather what will be funded by the Transportation Investment Act. Project sponsors will be asked to take care of capital and operational funding gaps.
• The Atlanta Roundtable also has submitted recommendations to the State legislature to improve the likelihood that the Transportation Investment Act will be passed in 2012.

Next week, watch for more details on how you can get involved.  Remember, we need your continued support in promoting this fantastic project for Georgia – we can’t stop now.

Gordon Kenna
CEO, Georgians for Passenger Rail

How does the Regional Roundtable process work?

Georgia is divided into 12 Regional Roundtables, all of which consist of 24 members. These Roundtable members have the sole authority to develop the constrained project list for submission to GDOT in October. All projects on the list will receive funding by the proposed penny sales tax that will go to a public vote in 2012.

In our case, there are three regions that need to place commuter rail on the constrained projects list. They include the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Three Rivers Commission and the Middle Georgia Commission (see larger map of regions). Without the support from Roundtable representatives in these three regions, it will be nearly impossible to get commuter rail running within five years.

How can you help?

• Send an email of support. In three easy steps, you can make your voice heard. Visit savegeorgiacommuterrail.com to send an email to your Regional Roundtable representative today.
• Stay informed. Follow us on Twitter, become a fan of our page on Facebook or join our mailing list to keep up with the latest news and share new developments with your social networks.
• Spread the word. We can drastically increase support for this project if we use all of our resources. Consider talking with your friends, neighbors or coworkers who live in the three Roundtable regions to help them understand their role in the process.

Christopher Leinberger, a leading expert in transportation policy and urban development, will discuss transportation opportunities for Atlanta and Georgia on Wednesday.

There are two opportunities to participate in this very important conversation:

• Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Centennial Tower, 101 Marietta Street, 26th floor, Atlanta

• Wednesday, 3 p.m., at the Marriott City Center, 240 Coliseum Drive, Macon.

Leinberger, a visiting fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, will explore the role of transit investments in the Atlanta market, the most successful national strategies and trends that are making communities vibrant and competitive.

“Atlanta’s legendary transportation and real estate issues must be addressed with creative solutions that are a feature of demographic shifts and global trends in technology and changing lifestyles,” said Leinberger, a visiting fellow with the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. Georgia is poised to engage with these issues in a new way with the emerging Transportation SPLOST projects being considered across the state by the Regional Roundtables.

Wednesday’s forum in Atlanta also features Ray Christman of the Livable Communities Coalition and Fair Share for Transit. Event sponsors include Georgians for Passenger Rail, the Georgia Cities Foundation, the Georgia Municipal Association and Central Atlanta Progress.

About Leinberger: Considered one of the nation’s top urban thinkers and land use strategists, Leinberger is an author, developer and real estate consultant. He serves as president of Locus, a national coalition of real estate developers and investors that believes transportation drives development and advocates for sustainable, walkable development in towns and cities. Leinberger and colleague Cris Coes of Locus and Smart Growth America advance the concept that transportation drives development, especially economic development and that these public investments must be planned and built for needs and trends in our future rather than fixing problems of the past.

After four studies, including an extensive economic analysis by the Brookings Institution in 2010, statewide stakeholders have devised a multi-year, multi-use, integrated rail plan that hinges on two major developments: the Atlanta Downtown Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal and the Atlanta-to-Macon passenger rail line.

As the work progresses to determine the final list of transportation projects to be considered by voters next year, these two projects are particularly critical to Georgia’s economic development.

First, the Atlanta Downtown Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal (MMPT) is envisioned to be the region’s premier public transportation passenger terminal, with facilities for existing heavy rail and other new passenger rail services, as well as bus services that include: intercity, regional express, Xpress, Cobb County, Gwinnett County and local bus and paratransit services. In addition, the MMPT is expected to be a catalyst for future streetcar and regional light-rail lines.

It is anticipated that this project will transform central Atlanta much like Union Station has revitalized Washington, DC. The MMPT will be the glue that will connect our universities, tourist destinations and employment centers. It also has the ability to obtain the most leverage for federal transportation dollars and will link the Beltline, street cars and MARTA.

The MMPT will also connect what many consider an integral proposed component – a 103-mile Atlanta-to-Macon rail line. The two metropolitan areas linked by this proposed passenger rail line account for 57 percent of the population of the state, 60 percent of the jobs and 70 percent of the state’s gross domestic product.

In addition to the downtown connection, the line will also provide direct connections to Georgia’s largest employment center – Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport through a rail connection at Aerotropolis, the multi-use development under construction in Hapeville that is expected to create an additional 10,000 jobs for marquis corporate tenants.

The Brookings Study proposes seven stations: Atlanta MMPT, Hapeville, Morrow, Hampton, Griffin, Forsyth and Macon. Additional input also recommends a station in Barnesville. Construction would begin 2016 and the line would be operational by 2018.

While additional study is necessary to determine the best operation, current thinking estimates 12 weekday round trips along this line. The new stations will spur commercial and residential development, creating jobs and bedroom communities in all cities south of Atlanta. Most importantly this rail investment will create a growth and economic stimulus into the center of our state where it is most needed.

In recent years, the south side of the metropolitan area has experienced lower growth than the north; in particular there has been little growth in regionally significant employment concentrations. However, since 2000, growth on the south side has seen a slight upturn, with areas south of I-20 accounting for 41 percent of the region’s growth, though most of that growth was residential and locally serving commercial.

Not investing in rail transit today is analogous to not investing in the highway system in the ’60s and ’70s. If our state does not provide transportation choices for current and future residents, business and individuals will go to metropolitan areas that do.

The momentum is building for passenger rail in Georgia, and we’d like to thank the many friends and supporters who have rallied around the idea of an initial line from Macon to Atlanta.  With portions of the project included on the unconstrained project lists for Atlanta, Three Rivers and Middle Georgia, the line is one step closer to becoming a reality.

That’s something to celebrate!  Please join us for Georgia’s for Passenger Rail’s “All Aboard Social” on June 23rd at 5 pm at The Commerce Club, 191 Peachtree St, Atlanta, GA 30303.

Please RSVP to Kris Hattaway at kris@newtownmacon.com