Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Roads GDOT cancels I-75/575 toll lane project
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 5:33 PM
The Georgia Department of Transportation today canceled plans to add toll lanes along nearly 30 miles of I-75 and 575 in Cobb and Cherokee counties.
Though the agency said in a brief statement that it was still "examining other available options" for the delivery of the $1.1 billion project, we all know everyone's broke, so it's very likely the plans will collect dust for a while. (For once, the road builders and asphalt kings know how transit advocates feel!)
Details are sketchy as to why GDOT had the sudden change of heart about the public-private partnership, which agency officials have been pushing for years and had been put out to bid. As Dave Williams of the Atlanta Business Chronicle reminds us, three international roadbuilder teams were expected to submit proposals next February.
Know why the whole thing fell apart? Send us a line.
Comments (5)
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Wow! My guess is the revenue numbers on I85 between the lower volume and the slashed fee structure for the lane are very disappointing and thus the bidders are based on the current package can't offer a doable deal - i.e. more government/general funding is needed.
btw for the first time in many many many years I drove on State Route 20 from 400 to 985 through Sugar Hill in Forsyth and North Gwinnett yesterday. Gwinnett is a mess! Scary how sprawled things are up there. Problem is the geographic area is getting so big that merely adding some lane miles doesn't really do anything.
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"btw for the first time in many many many years I drove on State Route 20 from 400 to 985 through Sugar Hill in Forsyth and North Gwinnett yesterday. Gwinnett is a mess! Scary how sprawled things are up there. Problem is the geographic area is getting so big that merely adding some lane miles doesn't really do anything."
So true and so sad. I used to pass through this route as a kid in the 70s/80s on our way to the lake and to visit aging relatives who still lived in their old farm houses. There was a beautiful country landscape clinging on then, despite encroaching suburbia. So much charm and natural beauty.
Now it's been taken over by a sprawling subdivision/strip-mall/office/industrial development pattern and the beauty is gone. Yet people who live in on a cul-de-sac Piney Oaks subdivision in Gwinnett probably pride themselves as being in the "country" -- as they drive to the grocery store to buy produce shipped from east Asia (there's certainly little room for it to grow within the sprawl).
Oops! I just hijacked your thread to drop a bitterness bomb, Thomas. Sorry. More on topic: I wonder how soon, if ever, Georgians will face the reality that roads (just like transit) are not paying for themselves. Unless we up our low gas tax and add tolls, they'll continue to require funding from general revenue sources -- which, of course, means people who don't drive the roads still have to pay for them with taxes.
"means people who don't drive the roads still have to pay for them with taxes." You mean like the super regressive 1% sales tax for transportation?
Except for the fact the 85 HOT lanes confiscated the HOV lane, HOT lanes or tolling makes sense, a lot more than a sales tax that exempts the sale of cars* but not groceries. And raising the gas tax makes sense.
The apparent demise of this project seems to signal a significant ratcheting down of what HOT lanes could do in terms of funding road projects, it also would seem to set back plans for express bus service or transit on the cheap. Then again you look at how wide 75 already is and its no wonder its so expensive to add more lanes to it.
*(that portion of a car transaction above 5k is exempt)
Personally, I'm in full support of the HOT lanes. I think in the long run they're more environmentally friendly than HOV lanes, because the reduction in effective capacity they've created makes a suburban lifestyle less tenable and will push people more toward livable areas.
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