By DAVE HAMRICK
dhamrick@TheCitizenNews.com

Regional transportation officials are crossing their fingers and hoping that work on the region's long-delayed transportation improvement projects can begin this fall.

Federal agencies have approved both the three-year Transportation Improvement Program and the 25-year, $36 billion Regional Transportation Plan, clearing the last administrative hurdle to getting the projects built.

Whether there will be further court challenges remains to be seen.

“If we're not out of the woods quite yet, I think we're very, very close,” said Chuck Walston, spokesman for the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, following U.S. Department of Transportation approval of the TIP. “At least we can see the clearing from here,” he said.

Transportation projects have been held up for two years because the Atlanta region's transportation plans failed to meet federal air quality standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency. Among the delayed projects is widening of Ga. Highway 74 in Peachtree City, which local officials say is desperately needed.

GRTA was created in June 1999 to oversee transportation planning and ensure that a new plan was created that would conform to the federal guidelines.

The Atlanta Regional Commission early this year adopted and GRTA approved the new TIP and RTP with much fanfare, saying that the new plans would meet the federal tests.

Approval by the U.S. DOT of both plans last week confirms the region's position, said Walston.

Environmental groups filed court actions attacking emissions standards in the plan, but the federal DOT was able to move forward based on the previous emissions standards, Walston said. GRTA and ARC officials are hoping all the hurdles will be cleared in time for federal funds to start flowing into the region starting in October, when the fiscal 2001 budget is in place.

“That's not to say there might not be more attempts to stall it in court,” Walston added, “but this is the final administrative approval we need.”

“This is a major step,” said GRTA executive director Catherine Ross. “It means that as early as October, we could begin implementing projects to relieve congestion and provide more transportation choices in our region.”

“This federal action will allow immediate progress on a variety of much needed transportation projects and programs for the Atlanta Region,” said Charles Krautler, ARC director.

Projects expected to get underway soon include commuter rail services (including a rail line from Hartsfield Airport through Fayette to Senoia), MARTA's north line extension and GRTA purchases for Clayton County bus services. In addition, the plan's priority three-year program provides funding for the next phase of ARC's Livable Centers Initiative, touted by ARC officials as a way of creating transportation-efficient development patterns for communities throughout the region.