ARC to reveal test
results on transportation plan By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer
Fayette
and other metro Atlanta residents will get an
idea how well the Atlanta Regional Commission's
new 25-year, $37 billion transportation plan may
work in a public forum next week.
ARC,
planning agency for the 10-county Atlanta region
that includes Fayette, will release the results
of extensive computer testing of the Regional
Transportation Plan in meetings of the group's
Transportation Coordinating Committee and its
Transportation and Air Quality Committee tomorrow
morning, followed by a public forum Oct. 26.
The
committees will meet at 9 and 10:30 a.m. tomorrow
at ARC headquarters, 3715 Northside Parkway, 200
Northcreek, Atlanta. The public forum will be at
MARTA headquarters next to Lindbergh Station from
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
That
will be a general overview, said Julie
Ralston, ARC's director of communications.
It will tell how all the different projects
and strategies work.
Projects
and strategies in the RTP will represent a
significant departure from what's been done in
the past. Ralston said 57 percent of the $37
billion in transportation projects will be for
public transit projects like heavy and light
rail, buses, commuter programs, sidewalks and
bike lanes, with only 29 percent used for road
improvements.
A
commuter rail line to Senoia would serve the
Fayette area, for example, and nearby Interstate
85 would receive some of the planned 300 percent
increase in HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes.
A
regional bus network and a $500 million expansion
of bicycle and pedestrian systems are planned,
along with stricter emission controls and a $50
million alternative fuel program.
Improved
air quality is at the center of much of the
planning, said Ralston. Metro Atlanta's federal
transportation funds have been on hold in recent
years because the area fails to meet
Environmental Protection Agency standards for air
quality. Those funds won't be released until a
new plan is adopted that will bring the area into
compliance.
The
computer tests that will be revealed this week
and next are designed to show how the projects
will affect air quality and a host of other
concerns, Ralston said. How the plan meets
mobility targets, vehicle miles per capita and
other criteria also will be revealed.
For
information on the RTP, phone 404-364-2500 or
check ARC's web site at www.atlantaregional.com.
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