This entry was posted on 12/12/2009 10:44 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
According to articles in this week's Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), the Georgia DOT (GDOT) board decided to lift the their 4-year-old ban on tolling existing lanes, plus has pushed it's own "big dig" proposal to the top of the "public-private partnership" (P3) list.
In 2005, the ban was enacted in response to the hostile public reaction over a proposal to upgrade GA 316 (a.k.a. University Parkway) to a fully limited-access highway and make the upgraded section from Lawrenceville to Athens a toll road.
GDOT claims that such tolling would be "an issue of last resort", but they also said that "there's not enough money in the world", which leads me to believe that they are potentially giving themselves "carte blanche" to slap tolls wherever they wish.
Given that the existing lanes have already been built with taxpayer money, I, as a taxpayer, do not believe it is prudent for us to allow any governmental entity to take what is already ours (the public non-tolled roads, or portions thereof) and force us to pay every single time we wish to use them. That, IMHO, is like asking me to keep paying a fee to use my own computer even though it is already fully bought-and-paid-for. Why should public roadways be treated any different?
Boston had it's famous "big dig" and East Atlanta could have a similar project that would provide a direct link between GA 400's southern end at I-85 to I-675's northern end at I-285.
For this particular P3 proposal, there would be a long tunnel that would extend from GA 400 to I-20, and then become a surface road from I-20 to I-675. Private contractors would not only build the road, but they would also toll the entire length of it.
Nearly 40 years ago, similar highways were proposed for the same corridor (Stone Mountain Tollway/I-485 and a GA 400 extension that would follow the route of the newly-proposed East Atlanta tollway). Neighborhood groups were eventually able to crush both proposals, and they are vowing to do the same to this new incarnation.
If this new incarnation of an East Atlanta expressway were to be built, then who's to say that it would really help our traffic woes here in Metro Atlanta. In fact, many drivers who may not afford the tolls or otherwise don't want to pay for driving on such a road would still use the existing expressways (I-75/85 and I-285) to get from the northside to the southside. To make existing non-tolled lanes tolled would IMHO add a lot of insult to injury. Furthermore, I would assume that heavy truck traffic would be restricted from using the new tollway, so it would not really save trucking companies any real time in transporting goods. Before letting our government go "hog wild" on any of these proposals, we all need to start wondering "What's In It For Me?", and right now, I'm having a hard time seeing how GDOT's "Toll Fever" will really help us in the long run.
Down in Savannah, the Chatham County Commission got what they called "an early Christmas present" from GDOT... US$128,000,000 to extend the Harry S. Truman Parkway from its current southern end at Whitfield Avenue (GA 204 Spur) to Abercorn Street (GA 204). According to the Savannah Morning News, construction should start in summer 2010 and take about 3 years to complete.
Here's a map showing my approximation of the extension's route..
From fellow Atlanta-area roadgeek Bryant Anderson, the blogmaster of Southern Roadgeek, here's a video of his travels along Gwinnett County's Sugarloaf Parkway...
One more thing before I go... a "shoutout" to Todd Devereaux, the co-webmaster of "The Death 2ur", for accepting my photo of legendary country music DJ and former TV host Ralph Emery's future gravesite at Nashville's Harpeth Hills cemetery (which BTW is not far from the northern end of the Natchez Trace Parkway). Thanks, Todd, for accepting my photo and kudos to you and The Death 2ur team on your website.
That's it for now. Thanks for reading and please visit often.
12/13/2009 1:48 PMBryant wrote:
As a motorist, I don't like toll roads, so I would use existing roads. As a roadgeek, I'd love to see a new freeway (just wished it wouldn't be tolled, if built). That AJC article was interesting.
Also, I don't like tolling existing lanes paid for with public tax dollars. It's asinine, imho.
The Truman Parkway extension would help alleviate some of that traffic on Abercorn Street. That street's traffic is horrendous, from end-to-end. Reply to this
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