By DAVE HAMRICK
Staff Writer

The Atlanta Regional Commission's new 25-year transportation plan may be swinging the pendulum a little too far as planners increase proposed spending for public transit systems and reduce funding for roads, says Fayetteville Mayor Mike Wheat.

Wheat, who serves on the ARC Board of Directors in his capacity as mayor, said the automobile is still the least costly way of moving people, and the benefit of spending too much on other alternatives may not be worth the cost.

Using ARC's estimates for the number of trips people will take over the next 25 years using the various transportation options, Wheat said he calculated that public transit will cost $1,000 per trip for construction, maintenance and operation, whereas providing improved roads to handle more traffic would cost only $55 per trip.

“Any way you cut it, the cost of transit is very high,” said Wheat.

ARC proposes to spend $11 billion on road widening and improvement and new roads in the Atlanta region, including Fayette, and $20 billion on public transit options, including bus, light rail and heavy rail.

Bus transportation is much cheaper than rail, Wheat said, but added that all the transit options cost much more than roads.

“Maybe we're going a little too far with this,” he said. “Maybe we could come up with a transportation plan that is a little less aggressive on transit that still can meet federal clean air standards,” he added.

The plan being offered for public comment by ARC would funnel $1.28 billion federal and state dollars into transportation projects for Fayette County.

Of that, $20 million is earmarked for bus service somewhere around 2010.

Not included in the local figure is funding for a passenger rail line from the MARTA line at Hartsfield Airport through Fayette to Senoia in neighboring Coweta County.

As for road projects, a $36 million east Fayetteville bypass and a $5 million west Fayetteville bypass are not anticipated until 2020. Of more immediate local concern, the widening of Ga. Highway 74 from Ga. Highway 54 to Ga. Highway 85 ($25.3 million) is expected to be completed in 2007. Widening projects on Ga. Highway 85 and Ga. Highway 92 are slated for 2010.

Fayette County commissioners last week voted unanimously to alert Georgia Department of Transportation and ARC officials that widening Hwy. 54 from Hwy. 74 to the Coweta County line is Fayette's highest priority project, but that project doesn't show up on the ARC plan for Fayette at all.

Officials say they are hoping that's just an oversight.