IT3 Listening Tour Big Picture
Please click on the city below to view the comments and photos from the IT3 listening tour.
Macon Listening Tour Comments
Local taxpayers pay tax monies, they pay motor fuel tax, and they want a return on their investment. It seems like every day that more and more is placed on local government that we have to bear the cost of everything. I’m worried about the assistance and the paving of roads on the rural level.
- Mike Underwood, Jones County Administrator
If there is a way to try to work on regional connectedness and a way to push that regional SPLOST concept forward. That way a region can come together and decide there’s a road we need to build and maybe there could be some money set aside for a matching program.
- Chip Cherry, CEO Macon Chamber of Commerce
Central Georgia will benefit greatly by an interstate connectivity that will support CSX, Norfolk Southern and all of our local rail partners, as you and I (referring to Commissioner Gena Evans) have seen at the local outreach sessions. I hope you keep that in mind that the rail component downstate is a major economic factor.
- Steve Hughes
Macon Listening Tour Photos
Savannah Listening Tour Comments
You need to put more emphasis on buses and trains because Chatham County has more than 16,000 people without personal transportation. Our county has grown and the bus service and public transit will relieve congestion, reduce pollution and saves people money.
- Pete Liakakis
The metro Atlanta area should follow the lead of many cities and make it expensive to park vehicles in the Atlanta area. Put a surcharge on parking for parking lots and corporation employee parking. Let them pay part of the price of the improvements that we need.
- Gene Vincent
Many projects that were once viewed as essential are no longer necessary because of changes in demographics, traffic patterns or the looming oil crisis. Few in positions of power at the local or State level seem to be embracing the new best practices in transportation planning, in other words making alternative forms of transportation more important than the traditional one person/one car paradigm.
- Beth Kintsler
I think we need to go with a lot more passenger rail and that could be even a train to Atlanta to help with some of us senior citizens who may be dangerous on the highway in five or six more years.
- Roy Depriest
I would urge you to follow the lead of places like California and link up land use and transit down to the micro-level. Whenever you bring up a new project it should have transit. It should have bicycle facilities. It should have pedestrian facilities. Then we won’t have to build more capacity for cars - one person in a box moving from here to there.
- Drew Wade
Savannah Listening Tour Photos
Dalton Listening Tour Comments
The I- 75 corridor from Atlanta to Chattanooga is very important to our statewide and local economy. We hope that corridor will include the passenger Maglev train project that has been discussed for many, many years. We believe that it would reduce the burden on Interstate and state routes in the area. And it would also serve as an example for the rest of the Country that this type of transportation can work and be effective.
- Kent Benson
The City Commission in Rome has always favored an increase in the gas tax for the construction of highways and maintenance of highways. But, it bothers us that our elected officials go to Atlanta and the first thing they say is, "I am not going to vote for a gas tax increase." We don't understand that on the local level. We feel there needs to be other sources of funding for cities and counties. We need to look at some type of regional approach, but at the same time, we need to ask for support in the cities because we are the government closest to the people. Allow us to raise money for our own infrastructure needs that are not being met by state funding.
- Buzz Wachsteter
We believe the Atlanta/Chattanooga corridor is critical for the positive economic growth to Atlanta and to all regions and Dalton. Connectivity to the upper Midwest, Chicago and connectivity to the Eastern Seaboard is critical to us all. We believe the Maglev technology is the right course and believe that construction of a project of this magnitude would create tremendous economic activity through the entire region.
- Kelly Jones
Em>We understand that it’s hard to ask you to add more projects when you don’t have the money to do what you already have. We know our Legislators and Senators are going to have some tough decisions. We ask them to help in making sure funding does come in a lot of different ways.
- Brian Anderson
Dalton Listening Tour Photos
Atlanta Listening Tour Comments
Georgia is the third fastest growing state in the country, and has the lowest per capita expenditure for transportation for any of those states. The transportation mess is diminishing our economic competitiveness; businesses are not locating in Georgia because of our lack of investment in transportation infrastructure.
- Thomas Leslie
Many of the roads that have projects going on right now don’t need to be fixed. And that money and effort could go into building an accessible transit system. You want to know how to pay for transit. That is how you pay for it. You put transit as our number one priority and you put the most funding into it.
- Ryan Kocera
We have put ourselves in an awful box where we are so dependent on the private automobile. I think it’s very important to build a much bigger transit system that will offer more people the possibility to walk to transit and then go where they need to go and walk from there. It will take some time, but it is something we need to do.
- Jim Dexter
There is four percent sales tax laid on gasoline and (Georgia DOT) gets three percent of that now, but that fourth percent could be made flexible. You could use that fourth percent for (rail infrastructure) if you want to. It’s just a matter of getting the legislature to agree to it.
- Neil Herring
There needs to be a way that the distribution of income for transit or roadways can be changed to reflect use or population. Atlanta pays a large majority of the taxes, whereas we are only two or three congressional districts. It seems all the money goes to developmental highways which in my opinion have been a great flop because you have all of those wonderful roads down there and there is no development.
- Richard Porter
Atlanta Listening Tour Photos
Valdosta Listening Tour Comments
We need a local option for funding and let the city know if we are going to get the funding or not. Don’t give the money to the county or regionally. Give the option to the city and we can take care of our own transportation needs. We have to become self-reliant in today’s economy.
-City of Valdosta Mayor John Fretti
I’ve been in some communities where streets are literally falling apart, but they don’t have the money to fix them. Asphalt costs are going up; we’re getting less miles paved. The burden is being shifted on the local governments and we are trying to fix these roads with limited money. Expanding roads are good; capacity projects are great, but keeping what you have is important or you’ll lose them.
-City of Valdosta City Engineer Von Shipman
Realistically we know the state has to have revenue. So I simply think tolls would be a good way to go. There are those of us who realize the funds have to come from somewhere – and there will be some folks who will never accept (tolls) – but we have to accept that if we want improvements made we have to accept something.
- City of Douglas Mayor Jackie Wilson
The problem is that all the Amtrack trains are secondary; all the freight trains are primary. So what you end up doing is you pull off for eight hours and let the freight trains by, so they can’t guarantee you how long it’s really going to take you to go somewhere. If we are serious about passenger trains then schedules are going to matter, and that will make the difference. We are going to need dedicated rails for passenger trains like they do in Europe.
- Dan Deaver
Valdosta Listening Tour Photos
Columbus Listening Tour Comments
If you get people on commuter rail you are getting them off the highway and giving them an alternative way to get around. As opposed to what you see right now in Atlanta, burning up gas while hunting gas. So that’s kind of a paradox and an oxymoron. But it’s happening. It’s the real thing. So right now there are no real good alternatives in the State of Georgia.
- Matt Bennet
I would definitely be in favor of tolls. I mean you pay to use them. If you don’t want to use it you don’t pay for it. It’s pretty simple.
- Mike Elliott
If the statewide sales tax can be passed on to local jurisdictions and if we are a progressive community, then that portion of it would help us greatly. Smaller communities may not be drawing as much and may not need as much of it for their needs. But the areas where it would benefit the most will put the (funds) to good use.
- Mike Dobbs
Many of us are going to have to put our keys down and we’re not going to be able to drive. Some of us have never been able to drive or can’t afford to drive. There should be a focus on that portion of the population who need public transportation and will continue to need public transportation. We need to encourage the use of high occupancy vehicle – HOV- lanes and public transit for the aging segment of our population because there will be more and more of them because we’re living longer and longer.
- Sandra Hood
I’m a regular commuter by bicycle. You really need to include more cycling and be aware of the cyclist because we have a big tourist attraction here with Bicycle Riding Across Georgia (BRAG) and all the bicycle rides that are accomplished across the state. This is a big tourist draw. We have to have more roads that accommodate the cyclists.
- Ed Chevy
Columbus Listening Tour Photos
Augusta Listening Tour Comments
We have a need for pedestrian and sidewalk opportunities. We don’t have very many around here and I think that in the long haul we’ll certainly need them. .
- Craig Spinks
I am concerned that if there was a global attack here in the United States that there are many military personnel living in Grovetown who would not be able to get to their posts at Fort Gordon. You mentioned that DOT’s objective is a comprehensive development plan that will ensure efficient connection between key origin and destination. That’s the objective that I wish that we would put priority for and that we would consider not our wants, but our needs and set this up as a priority. .
- Rosalie Owens
One of the things that have been talked about for years is train service between Augusta and Atlanta and Atlanta to Athens. A high speed train to the airport would cut the commute and make it easier for people trying to catch their flight.
- Thomas Atkins
I’ve got some problems that make it difficult for me to drive. I am very much concerned about alternative transportation besides just places where people can drive.
- Linda Strother
We don’t need to build new roads, but we need to manage them better. We’re currently running our ITS (Intelligent Transportation System) with technology that has been in place for 15 years and it’s not cohesive. With better technology to tie this in we could improve transportation flow in the Augusta Richmond area and maybe statewide from the Atlanta area. Valdosta did their own; Savannah did their own, but there needs to be some togetherness on creating a statewide system that communicates with each other.
- Glenn Bollinger
Augusta Listening Tour Photos