Thursday, January 17, 2008
News Shouldn't commuter rail be a no-brainer?
Posted by Scott Freeman on Thu, Jan 17, 2008 at 3:08 PM
A hearing yesterday on building a commuter rail system that connects Atlanta with its outlying suburbs demonstrated both the need for it, and the reasons why it probably won't get built in our lifetime.
According to the Gwinnett Daily Post, Atlanta is one of three of the 13 largest cities in the country without commuter rail. "Not only does it affect the quality of life in the region, but it affects our ability to attract jobs," Michael Robison, co-chair of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce's transit committee, told the Georgia DOT's intermodal committee. "We're falling behind."
The system's price tag is estimated to be $1.5 billion and members of the DOT committee responded that the state just doesn't have that much money to devote to commuter rail. After all, there are miles and miles of roads to be built and expanded, etc., etc.
And, according to one committee member, not everybody wants to get to Atlanta:
Rep. Steve Davis, a member of the transportation committee, said he does not think it makes sense to spend more than a billion dollars on a transportation method such a small portion of the population will use. Davis, R-McDonough, described the projects more as economic development tools than travel tools."It will have a much broader impact than just transportation," Davis said. "They want to force the entire region onto becoming the urban core. I do not want to live in Atlanta; I do not want to live in the urban core."
Can we say "short-sighted leadership"?
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