Tuesday, February 24, 2009
News Piedmont Park residents not cool with tunnels under Atlanta
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 5:55 PM
Lawmaker and developers should know this about Piedmont Park by now. If you even come close to threatening the city's most iconic greenspace, you better be prepared for a vocal reaction from its residents and supporters.
That's why residents near Piedmont Park are keeping their eyes on one of the General Assembly's proposed solutions to the state's notorious congestion problem.
House Resolution 206, sponsored by state Rep. Vance Smith, R-Pine Mountain, proposes a statewide one-cent sales tax to fund $25 billion of projects ranging from transit to roads. Included in the legislation is a controversial project: Tunnels underneath the city.
Cue the outrage.
If subterranean tunnels sound like a novel approach to fixing congestion — especially for the trucks that already clog I-285 to bypass the city — keep in mind that they come with a price. From a Sept. 2007 CL article by Joe Winter:
At least, you gotta figure, the tunnels would give Atlanta's neighborhoods some dignity and stay out of sight. You'd be wrong, though. To a surprising extent, the scheme would dot Atlanta's landscape with big, ugly structures meant to pull pollution from the tunnels into the air over Atlanta.The three Atlanta double-decker tunnels would run for around 28 miles, much of it under some of the city's most desirable neighborhoods, including Morningside, Virginia-Highland, Edgewood, East Atlanta, Ormewood Park, Midtown and Summerhill.
Residents of potentially at-risk neighborhoods are already circulating emails telling neighbors to call their lawmakers. An email from grassroots advocacy group Citizens for Progressive Transit says the group opposes the idea. The House may vote on the proposal on Wednesday.
How this plays out, however, may depend on a different piece of legislation. Last week, Gov. Sonny Perdue made clear that he wouldn't support either the House or Senate's proposals until lawmakers approved his massive reorganization of the state's transportation agencies. That legislation, Senate Bill 200, dropped last week. It's a big, game-changing bill, one that includes a lot of eyebrow-raising language. We're sifting through it and will report soon.
(Photo courtesy of Cofiroute)
Comments (3)
Showing 1-3 of 3
It takes us 25 years to figure out how to put a train on an existing track and we're supposed to be on board with tunnels under the city? Point #1: put some friggin real localized bus service in the city Point #2: the congestion isn't that bad and its going to get better because of the housing bust.
like
dislike
Latest in Fresh Loaf
-
5 things today: Willie Nelson, Twyla Tharp
The whiskey river runs to Tabernacle, dance at Cobb Energy, and more
-
Most popular damn posts o' the week 5
A bad week in Pittsburgh
-
5 things today: A$AP Rocky, Art Papers
Rap at the Masquerade, an annual art auction and party, and more
- More »
Author Archives
-
Airport concessions vote expected today... is a deal in the works?
Council to decide on restaurant and retail shop picks for world's busiest aviation hub
-
Wanna see a 3-D photo of Atlanta just after the Civil War? 3
Downtown in the days just before Sherman arrived
- More »
