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October 26, 2000 |
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GRTA
Made Significant Progress in First Year For many people, myself included, autumn has always been a season for
taking stock of where we’ve been, and where we’re headed.
Maybe it’s a habit from our school days, when September meant the
start of a new grade. Or maybe it’s simply the hint of cooler days
that makes us ponder change. Whatever the reason, I think it is
appropriate this fall for everyone in the Atlanta region to reflect on
where we have been together, and where we’re going.
It’s been just over one year since the Georgia Regional
Transportation Authority (GRTA) was formed, and almost a year since I
personally came aboard as Executive Director. In that time, GRTA has
helped set a new direction for the Atlanta region that will protect our
quality of life, provide more transportation choices, and promote the
kind of economic prosperity than can be sustained and enjoyed by our
children and grandchildren.
We’ve had lots of help. The business community, the Legislature and
Governor Roy Barnes provided great leadership in creating GRTA, and we
have enjoyed the cooperation of many other agencies, including the
Georgia Department of Transportation and the Atlanta Regional
Commission.
On Oct. 24, the Metro Atlanta Chamber convened a meeting of business
and community leaders to assess the progress that had been made in
efforts to clean up Atlanta's air and provide more transportation
choices. A report was issued by an independent consultant that
concluded, "GRTA has made meaningful progress" toward its
goals.
Much of GRTA’s energy in our first year was focused on the new
transportation plans for the Atlanta Region. As you might know, we have
been unable to spend federal money on new roads for the past two years
because of poor air quality. The ARC worked diligently to develop new
plans, and it was GRTA’s job to make sure those plans would improve
our air while providing more transportation choices.
GRTA approved the ARC’s plan in July, and I’m happy to report
that the U.S. Department of Transportation gave its okay a few weeks
later. This approval was achieved through countless hours of meetings
and "shuttle diplomacy" involving officials from GRTA and
other agencies. As a result, federal transportation dollars should begin
flowing to our region on Oct. 1. This will allow us to provide more
transportation choices, which should relieve some congestion bottlenecks
and improve our air quality.
While this process was a primary focus at GRTA during our first year,
we have also been busy on a number of other projects. Three of the most
important are:
Expanding bus service in the region, including comfortable new
express buses that we hope to begin purchasing soon. Also, the voters of
Clayton County in July expressed a desire for local bus service, and
GRTA is negotiating with the county to provide that service. We hope to
have buses rolling in Clayton County by next summer.
We will award a contract any day for several engineering firms to
conduct a detailed study of the transportation needs in the northern
part of the metro region, especially the Georgia 400 Corridor. This
study will help determine the priorities for projects to relieve
congestion along Georgia 400.
GRTA board members and staff have been working with the state
Department of Transportation and the Georgia Rail Passenger Authority to
provide passenger rail service in our state. We are hoping to start the
first commuter routes, from Athens to Atlanta and from Griffin to
Atlanta, within the next few years. Some public meetings have already
been held along those corridors, and another round of meetings is set
for October and November.
GRTA also has worked hard to insure that the public has a voice in
the transportation decisions that will affect our region for years to
come. We launched a Citizens’ Academy and three Policy Advisory
Councils to advise our board, and our web site includes a "GRTA
Forum" where everybody can sound off on transportation and air
quality issues.
At our Sept. 13 meeting, we began "streaming" our GRTA
board meetings live over the web site, and more than 170 people followed
the proceedings. I’m proud that GRTA is the first state agency to use
this new technology, which will allow people all over the state to see
exactly what we are doing to provide more transportation choices and
improve air quality.
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