Atlanta Regional Commission’s Regional Transportation Plan plans to invest $59 billion into Atlanta’s transportation systems in May which will make commuting to Georgia State more convenient.
Jim Jaquish, senior communications Coordinator for Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), said 70 percent of the funding will go to financing the GRTA bus service, paying for Atlanta Streetcar operations, improving MARTA train wait times, repaving roads, fixing potholes and repairing bridges.
According to ARC’s March 26 press release, the remainder of the funding will pay for “expansion between now and 2040.”
Jaquish said a majority of funding will be put into constructing toll lanes on I-75 North and South of Atlanta spanning on the south to McDonough and on the north to Acworth and Cherokee County.
“That will help students who commute in once those are finished. Both of those should be in construction within the next five years or so,” Jaquish said. “And those will be new lanes that will be added to the interstate system. They are not taking the HOV lane and replacing it with a toll lane like they did on I-85.”
He added that the prices for toll lanes would be based on the amount of traffic on the interstate, which means prices could range from 20 cents to 6 dollars.
“The idea is that if you pay to drive in that lane the DOT’s goal is to guarantee you at least a 45 mile an hour trip. That’s why on I-85 they’ll have variable tolls where the toll price gets higher as the volume of traffic increases,” Jaquish said. “So that it maintains the number of cars that are in that toll lane so that you can keep a 45 mile an hour drive. So, what you are really paying for is reliability there.”
Other improvements the ARC is making is the addition of bike lanes to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, new street lights on Piedmont Road and Memorial Drive and construction to the Mitchell Street Bridge.
Amanda Vincent, nursing major, said she has to leave home in Covington before 6 a.m. to be at Georgia State by 6:30 a.m.
“The longer I leave my house after that point, it’s not even almost worth my time. I would rather do MARTA at that point,” Vincent said. “Really more than anything I could tell you that when I graduate from Georgia State, I’m not going to stay because of the traffic. I am not going to commute into Atlanta to work. I’m going somewhere else simply because of the traffic.”
Vincent said she would only use the toll roads if there was a real emergency.
“I always avoid toll roads. I think that as much as we pay in taxes they should just provide it for us, period,” Vincent said.
Timothy White, a junior finance major, suggests for the ARC to provide discounts for students for the upcoming toll lanes.
“I think the toll[s] they have right now are fine but when I think about toll lanes it’s a convenience. In other words, you have to pay for the convenience. If they are going to invest that type of money, there should be allocated funds to give some type of grant or some type of discount to students that commute back and forth to the city,” White said.
Ashton Brasher, a junior english major, commutes to Midtown near Atlantic Station and said she still faces traffic congestion issues.
“I think probably the biggest challenge is that I am normally on a 9-to-5 schedule. So, when I want to come to campus and when I want to leave campus, I am sitting in horrible traffic. I live three miles away and it can take me 30 to 45 minutes just to get back to my apartment, which is pretty frustrating because I live close for a reason,” Brasher said.
She expressed that it is a good idea for the ARC to put a portion of their funding into improving MARTA wait times.
“I have been to D.C. and London and other cities with really solid public transportation. The Tube in London was incredible and I did not mind being on it at all. It puts MARTA to shame. So, I think that investing in bettering MARTA is absolutely a great use of money,” Brasher said.
The federal government will pay for 80 percent of the Regional Transportation Plan and local and state governments will fund the remaining 20 percent.
Jaquish said the plan has already been approved by the ARC board and the GRTA board. It has been sent to the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Authority for approval.
The Regional Transportation Plan is an amended plan from the 2011 $61 billion approved transportation plan.
