By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@thecitizennews.com

If you want to go from Fayetteville to Marietta today, you have only one way to get there, says Atlanta Regional Commission director Harry West.

But that's going to change, he said. Within ten years, you'll have a choice of driving your car, riding a bus or train, or carpooling with someone else and using an extended network of high occupancy vehicle lanes.

“All we're talking about is providing alternative ways of getting you from one place to another,” West said during a public hearing last week in Fayetteville on the ARC's proposed 25-year, $36 billion Regional Transportation Plan.

ARC, regional planning agency for the 10-county Atlanta region, is proposing to increase spending for public transportation and reduce funding for road construction. Officials hope by doing so they will bring about an improvement in the quality of air in the region, freeing up federal dollars for transportation projects here.

Federal agencies have placed the region under a moratorium on transportation spending because air quality fails to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards.

“We're starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” West told a small crowd of about 75 local residents who attended the hearing.

Both the RTP and the Transportation Improvement Program, a more detailed plan that covers the next three years, are in the public comment stage. After gathering public comment, ARC expects to formally adopt the documents March 22.

Included in the agency's proposals is a $70 million rail line connecting Senoia to Hartsfield International Airport, 31 miles away, with stops in Tyrone and Peachtree City. That's part of $6.3 billion in rail projects being proposed.

The plan also includes a 90 percent increase in the number of buses serving metro Atlanta, and a 245 percent increase in miles of HOV expressway lanes.

Equally important, West said, is that local governments encourage land uses that reduce the number of miles people travel daily, such as village type developments where people can live, work and shop. But, he added, “These kinds of things are a hard sell. The American people hate two things — sprawl and density,” he said, shaking his head. “Where's the happy medium?”

ARC can encourage local governments to change, but the agency has no enforcement power, he said.

But the new Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, created last year by the General Assembly to oversee all transportation improvements in the state, was given power to enforce its directives.

“ARC deals with planning, and GRTA deals with implementation,” said West. “We can't tell anybody they have to do something, but we hope to make it attractive for them to do so.”

To learn more about ARC's transportation plans, or to comment on them, phone 404-463-3102, or visit www.atlantaregional.com.