A public forum on transportation issues drew about 35 Fayette business and political leaders together in Fayette Community Hospital's community room Friday morning.

With coffee, bagels and Danish in hand, Atlanta and Fayette chamber of commerce officials met with several county commissioners and candidates for state offices. No local municipal governments were represented.

Jeff Rader, vice-president of transportation for the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, presented a summary of research identifying the problems caused, ironically, by "the virtuous cycle" the Atlanta area has experienced for many years. He outlined key obstacles to solving Atlanta's problems, and described approaches taken by other high-growth American metropolitan areas, and their failure or success.

Because of its favorable quality-of-life factors, metro Atlanta has seen a population growth of 105 percent since 1970, Rader said. Higher traffic densities associated with rapid growth, however, threaten to scuttle the very environment that has attracted growth, an issue compounded by the withholding of federal funds because the region is in noncompliance with clean air standards.

And while it is excessive ozone that has shut down road-building, Rader said, even if every car in the 13-county metro area emitted zero pollutants, congestion alone is already enough to make several potential large employers have second thoughts about locating here.

"From 1990 to 1994, Atlanta added more capacity to its road system than any other large city," Rader said, yet ranks among the most congested cities in the country. Its real estate market has been pushed down to seventh, nationally.

Created in part by sprawl and a lack of planning which have resulted in a higher dependence on automobiles, Atlanta's traffic jams carry a hefty price tag. Analysts calculate that an employee who spends 30 minutes commuting one-way wastes the equivalent of 33 workdays per year. An estimated $1.5 billion is lost each year in time and wasted fuel.

Atlanta drivers have the longest commute of all national metro drivers, averaging 34 miles, for a total ride of more than 100 million miles daily. And, Rader said, traffic density contributes to a new phenomenon in American society, road rage.

The goal of the Metro Atlanta Transportation Initiative MATI is an effective, balanced transportation system that helps Atlanta sustain economic growth as well as a good quality of life, he continued.

MATI's approach is fourfold: to profile the nature and magnitude of the problem, to understand the key improvement areas, to develop options and to gain consensus for presentation of solutions to the governor and elected officials who can effect change.

Rader described strategies taken by other large American metropolitan areas, and compared them with Atlanta's. Among models like San Diego, Houston, Portland, and the San Francisco Bay area, a unified approach such as a regional transportation authority appears to work best.

In the 10-county metro Atlanta area, by contrast, 70 local governments traditionally defend home rule, he said: "People want participation in community. Funding of local systems will be coordinated across the region only if they can all reach agreement."

At present, the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Regional Business Coalition, as well as MATI are all wrestling with transportation issues. Rader said that although these boards share membership, they lack the force of a single authority that addresses land use planning and transportation simultaneously.