ATLANTA — A new Atlanta-area government agency is creating a long-term transit plan for the area which could propose up to $27.4 billion in new projects.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority, created last year by the state assembly to oversee transit planning and funding in a 13-county area, has put together a list of 192 area projects. They range from a $1.9 billion extension of MARTA rail service to $45,000 for vehicles for a new transit service in Douglas County.
That list from the agency, known as the ATL, is more of an outline than a detailed plan, since most of the projects are not funded, but its creation is a prerequisite for funding, the newspaper reports. And the planning comes in the wake of a vote earlier this year by residents of Gwinnett County rejecting a plan to expand MARTA into their area. [See “Suburban Atlanta county votes down transit measure,” Trains News Wire, March 21, 2019.]
The authority’s board is scheduled to meet today to discuss the plan, with final adoption expected in December.
Pardon my cynicism that comes with my advanced age. Whenever I hear of a new governmental agency that is supposed to coordinate stuff, I say, Oh My God, spare me.
Once upon a time, this sort of agency worked well in America. Now it doesn’t.