Traffic congestion from vehicles feeding onto I-85 in Fayette, Coweta and south Fulton counties just keeps getting worse. Attempting to address the bad dream destined to become a traffic nightmare, the Tri-County Alliance was born more than a year ago to address those problems and provide the impetus for solutions.

At the organization’s Feb. 16 meeting, attorney and alliance lobbyist Mark Sanders said the number of stakeholders that have signed on is a factor that possesses the capability of making changes in the way legislators view the area and affecting the funding dollars they might allocate. Moments earlier, South Fulton Community Improvement District (CID) Administrator Joddie Gray announced that the town of Tyrone recently signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the alliance-sponsored Multi-Jurisdictional Congestion Relief Accord. Jurisdictions already participating in the MOU include Coweta County, Fulton County, Peachtree City, Senoia, Union City, Fairburn and South Fulton CID. The only tri-county area jurisdiction not having signed the agreement is Fayette County.

Sanders said the odds were rare that a such large number of local governments and other stakeholders would come together to create and maintain a regional alliance to address concerns that cross so many jurisdictional lines. Those efforts, Sanders said, may well pay off.

“The proof is in the politics,” said Sanders. ”This is a novel concept being tried here. The alliance has reached across jurisdictions and party lines. Now the planets are aligning for transportation infrastructure and funding. This group can help that alignment.”

Sanders referenced pending legislation that might pave the way toward traffic congestion relief in coming years. One of those, House Bill 434, would provide for establishing a voter-approved Regional Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) for major traffic infrastructure projects. The bill was sponsored by 66th District Rep. Virgil Fludd and others.

Another potential method to address needed transportation came last week in the form of House Bill 442, said Sanders. Sponsored by Rep. Vance Smith (Pine Mountain-129th District) and Rep. Johnny Floyd (Cordele-147th District), HB 442 proposes a referendum for a statewide one-percent sales tax for transportation purposes. The measure was previously proposed by the non-profit Georgians for Better Transportation.

Increasing traffic congestion is a reality in the tri-county that will not go away, said Sanders. Stakeholders in the three-county area can have a more significant impact on future funding by banding together, he said. And banding together to form an alliance has already received the positive attention of Georgia Dept. of Transportation, Gray added.

“We want to engage the General Assembly,” Sanders said. “We need regional equity. It’s all about people and our quality of life.”

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