Midtown Projects on Transportation 'Wish List'

Transit projects that would link to Midtown and the Atlanta BeltLine are among projects on a transportation "wish list" the Atlanta Regional Commission presented to the Georgia DOT on Friday.

ARC's 437 metro projects totaling $29 billion in road, transit, safety, bike and trail and other improvements will be considered for funding if a special one-cent sales tax is approved in a July 2012 referendum. The tax could generate approximately $8 billion over a 10-year period, according to an ARC announcement. 

The wish list included several BeltLine streetcar and trail projects, including  from south Buckhead to Midtown, southeast Atlanta to Midtown, and southwest Atlanta to Midtown.

Also on the list, is the high-capacity transit line that would link . The transit line would connect to the MARTA Arts Center Station and the proposed Beltline, through Cobb County, following a route that is parallel to I‐75 and US 41. 

City of Atlanta projects include improvements on Roswell Road and Piedmont Road between the Atlanta city limits and the Lindbergh MARTA station. The project would improve roadway capacity and operations, boost pedestrian safety and increase multimodal transportation options to reduce congestion.

“Our local governments, transit agencies and others have compiled and submitted a very comprehensive list of projects,” said Bucky Johnson, Mayor of Norcross and chair of the Atlanta Regional Transportation RoundtableRoundtable, in a release. “This is an important step in a long process to get where we need to go. We look forward to working together as a region to craft an exciting list of improvements for voters to consider next year.”

But submitting the list is just the first step. The list will get whittled down in a several step process from now until October, when the final list will be made available before the 2012 referendum vote.

First, DOT Planning Director Todd Long will evaluate each of the 437 transportation projects submitted, using criteria developed by the roundtable last year. 

According to an ARC press release, Long will delete projects that don’t meet the criteria and potentially add projects that meet the criteria but were not submitted by a local government. Long will then present an “unconstrained” list of projects to the roundtable by June 1.

The roundtable will then whittle Long’s list down during the summer and fall to a smaller "working" list, which will become available for public comment.

A final list that meets the $8 billion budget, will then be transmitted back to DOT in October. At at that point, it will be presented to the public before the vote on the referendum is held next year. 

For a complete list of the projects, click here.