When a 21-member regional roundtable of area leaders completed its project list last fall, members said the controversial light rail line had been replaced by a bus rapid transit route from Acworth to Midtown, which would be funded if voters in a 10-county region approve a 1 percent sales tax that is designed to raise $8.4 billion over 10 years. But Atlanta resident Baruch Feigenbaum, who completed a study for the Galleria-based Georgia Public Policy Foundation, said the math doesn’t add up.
Feigenbaum, a transportation policy analyst for the Reason Foundation, which like the Georgia Public Policy Foundation is a nonprofit think tank, said bus rapid transit lines are a cost-effective alternative to rail that can serve a larger area. But the Cobb project’s $695 million price tag raises a lot of questions, with Feigenbaum saying it could be built for about half the cost, particularly if it used planned, managed toll lanes on Interstate 75.
“Obviously there’s some desire in that corridor for light rail. The amount of money they have is an enormous sum of money for BRT,” he said. “So I guess I’d say I’m skeptical … Giving that much money to a BRT line, I think you’d have unbelievable buses that would not be a good use of taxpayer dollars.”
State Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Acworth) said the evidence points to the construction of light rail.
“I think they’re looking for a separate lane for only buses, which is more cost than it certainly needs to be, or it’s going to actually fund a rail line.” he said. “Or both — $700 million is unjustifiable.”
Cobb Department of Transportation Director Faye DiMassimo, who didn’t attend the breakfast event, said the cost of the bus rapid transit line in Cobb was justified, using the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority’s methodology to include costs for roadway and intersection operational improvements, queue-jumper lanes, signal pre-emption, buses, stations and platforms, parking and other items, as well as 10 years of operating costs.
“I am not certain what Mr. Feigenbaum’s estimates of costs were based upon,” DiMassimo said. “Ours was a detailed engineering estimate.”
Setzler maintains that building a light rail line would be a mistake.
“There’s not a single $100 million per mile rail line that’s being proposed that can’t be better served with buses for a tiny fraction of the cost,” he said.
Ashley Robbins, president of Citizens for Progressive Transit, points out that the project list calls for “fixed guideway” rail service between Cumberland and the MARTA Arts Center Station if additional funding is secured. She said she would prefer for rail to bus rapid transit along the route, which is now covered by the “packed to the brim” Cobb Community Transit bus Route 10.
“It accommodates a higher ridership and shows a larger investment in the community,” she said. “Despite the additional cost, it is really a significant investment and would really help spur redevelopment and growth on (Highway) 41.”
From the 17th-floor Georgian Club in the Galleria complex, the 80 attendees at Wednesday’s breakfast event could see the rush-hour confluence of Interstates 75 and 285, two roads that are among the more congested in the Atlanta area. Among the Cobb residents in attendance were chairman candidate Larry Savage, community advocate on transportation issues Ron Sifen, Cobb Planning Commission member Bob Hovey and Slade Gulledge of the Cobb Chamber.
During his 45-minute presentation, and a companion study released Wednesday, Feigenbaum said that bus rapid transit is a better option than rail for a city with Atlanta’s population density, which he said is the lowest of any metropolitan area of its size or larger in the world.
Feigenbaum, who formerly handled transportation issues for U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Sharpsburg), even said that if Atlanta were to eliminate MARTA rail, it would only take 56 buses to pick up the slack. Compare that to Washington, D.C., which would require 1,385 new buses to replace its Metro rail system.
Yet, the vast majority of the TIA’s transit money would go to rail. In addition to Cobb’s line, a beltline streetcar project in Atlanta would get $600 million and another $700 million line would be built from MARTA’s Lindbergh Center station to Emory University. In addition, $533 million would go toward MARTA maintenance.
One questioner pointed out to Feigenbaum that the initial light rail line is basically a “foundation” that would eventually run from Kennesaw State University to Atlanta. But Feigenbaum said it actually makes more sense to start the line between Cumberland and Kennesaw and someday go south from there.
“Many of the people that live in that Cobb County corridor are actually commuting to the Perimeter or to the Cumberland area, not to downtown” he said. “So if I was going to be starting with a system, I would start with a system north of it, not south of it.”
Feigenbaum called into question the Atlanta Regional Commission’s findings that 18 percent more drivers would be able to reach their jobs in the Cumberland-Galleria area within 45 minutes if the transportation referendum passed.
“I think the 18 percent assumes a very high ridership on the rail line, which in Atlanta we haven’t had in the past,” he said.
Along with thinking that the 52 percent of TIA money set aside for mass transit is too much, Feigenbaum said the money could be better spent.
“By picking just a few really expensive light rail lines, we’re missing out on giving really high-quality bus rapid transit to everyone,” he said. “I don’t know why some people should be benefitting when really everyone can benefit.”
Feigenbaum also faulted the use of sales tax to raise transportation money, saying that gas taxes, toll roads, bonds and vehicle mileage taxes would be sources that require those who use transportation to pay more of their share, as opposed to the poor.
But ultimately, Feigenbaum’s report didn’t recommend voting for or against the TIA. While he finds the project list flawed, he said a “no” vote would mean that transportation problems wouldn’t be addressed for at least two more years, allowing the area to fall behind communities like Charlotte, Houston and Dallas. And regions that vote “no” would also see the Georgia Department of Transportation reduce its match for local projects from the current 90 percent to 70 percent.
“I can’t say it’s really good or bad, because there’s both on there,” Feigenbaum said. “I’m of two minds.”
Setzler, who proposed legislation this year that would have scrapped the TIA referendum and scheduled another election for 2014 using different methods for determining project lists, said what he heard Wednesday only confirmed his feelings.
“This project list is so flawed that if we invest $8 billion on these projects, we will condemn ourselves to never solve traffic in metro Atlanta,” he said. “If we take the one opportunity we have to raise revenue and misallocate it, Cobb County will never get out of traffic.”
Jim Stokes, executive director of the Livable Communities Coalition, said he is OK with the share of the money set aside for mass transit.
“Frankly, I think there ought to be more transit, but the project list is set and we’re supporting the project list,” he said.
Public policy foundation Vice President Benita Dodd said Feigenbaum performed the study “for us and with us,” but said it’s the foundation’s policy not to disclose “whether or what” it pays the authors of its studies.
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We can argue about the number of transit riders all day, but it still doesn't get to the heart of the question.
It is not a question of whether it should be buses or trains, because neither work very well. The poor performance of MARTA and CCT are overwhelming proof of that.
Transit rideship in Atlanta, based on the percentage of the total commuting population is very low and it is dropping.
So why would we continue investing huge sums of money in a mode of transportation that obviously doesn't work very well.
The dye was cast over the last several generations by developers and politicians (city and county) that allowed the Metro area to sprawl uncontollably in low and very low densities.
Even now the low density land use patterns in our community are not changing enough to give much credence to successful future transit investment.
Transit ridership on MARTA heavy rail and MARTA, CCT (Cobb) and GCT (Gwinnett) local buses is dropping.
Transit ridership on GRTA Xpress, CCT and GCT EXPRESS buses is actually rising as GRTA has quickly expanded from only two bus routes when the commuter bus service started in 2004 to nearly 40 bus routes today with overall ridership recently eclipsing 10,000 trips per day and still quickly rising with many routes being standing-room only in the aisles on many trips.
There also plans in progress to add more express bus routes to Athens, Gainesville and Macon.
It is the declining ridership on local trains and buses and the quickly increasing ridership on regional express commuter buses that says that the while the market for local transit is poor, the market for regional transit is excellent and expanding, possibly setting the stage for some kind of SELF-FUNDED regional commuter rail service in the future.
From my perspective, there are two issues. The first has to do with our vision for the future because, as football coach George Allen says, "The future is now." The point being that we have to make decisions now that mold what Cobb County will look like in ten years, because it takes that long for things to come to fruition. I know the density in metro Atlanta is lower than other major cities, but it won't always be that way. The population will certainly grow and it most of that growth won't expand beyond the its current geographical limits. I believe the greatest growth will be closer in than further away. There is a good article today about revitalizing South Cobb. This is the growth I see - an increase in density, not area. The second issue has to do with the misinformation being touted as fact. I don't put much faith in studies that do not make common sense. Many so-called facts that are presented in these Comments really are nothing more than a single persons opinion without any substantiation. The authors wish they were in a more powerful position to press their agenda, but they are not so they criticize the people that actually did the work to get in those positions. As for the TSPLOST, I believe the common sense of the voters will win out. I'm sure Emil Faber once said "Common Sense Is Good," too.
If TSPLOST passes the light rail from Arts Center to Cumberland might be completed in 15-20 years for what good that does Cobb County. The growth is going to occur from I-285 north up the I-75, I-85 and Ga.400 corridors.
You can't force people or employers to go where they don't want to go.
The extension up to Kennesaw, which would benefit Cobb County, won't occur for many years after that if ever.
You are correct about the misinformation being distributed and MAVEN and other pro TSPLOST groups should be ashamed of themselves for doing that. They are doing a disservice to the community.
And I also agree with you on being skeptical of studies that really don't make sense.
The one that comes to mind immediately is the Alternatives Analysis that Cobb DOT is conducting. No common sense being used there for sure.
The other is the South Cobb Redevelopment Study. No matter how hard you try and no matter how hard you hope it is almost impossible, that you are going to be able to create a market where none exists in the first place.
Underground Atlanta is a good example of that.
If anything is obvious about this whole situation it is that we should back off and revisit the extremely flawed project list.
If we are going to do something let's do it right the FIRST time!!
We can't afford to screw it up with projects that do very little to address our regional transportation issues.
The Roundtable blew it!!
Let's accept that and go back to the drawing board.
Atlanta has by far the lowest density of population of the same or larger size cities.
For example - it would take 1,385 busses to replace Washington DC's train system, and only 56 busses to replace MARTA.
source - GA Public Policy Foundation Study May 2012
BRT and light rail as proposed on I-75 & US 41 are a grand waste of very limited public funding.
Ed Setzler is absolutely right, that we will never get out of traffic if we take the one opportunity we have to raise revenue and completely blow it by misallocating the revenue on bad projects.
What we should REALLY be doing to help traffic in the I-75/US 41 NW Corridor is converting US 41/Cobb Parkway into a super-artery with free local surface lanes and tolled express lanes from I-285 north to Cartersville, instead.
Also, if we are going to do rail transit in that I-75/US 41 Northwest Corridor then we should be working to implement SELF-FUNDING, SELF-SUSTAINING rail transit service(maybe light rail, but DEFINITELY commuter rail) on the CSX-Western & Atlantic rail line between Acworth & Vinings with a rail transit line that extends east across the Top End of I-285 to Sandy Springs, Perimeter Center/Dunwoody and Doraville to relieve severe rush hour traffic congestion on I-75 NW and the I-285 Top End between Acworth and Doraville where traffic is the worst in the entire metro area.
If we can't do SELF-FUNDED rail transit (mainly commuter rail, but also light rail) on the Old Western & Atlantic/CSX freight rail right-of-way that does not require tax increases then we simply don't need to do transit as the old W&A/CSX line is the ONLY place where transit will work and be wildly successful. The other corridors (US 41 & I-75) are massive rail transit boondoogles waiting to happen.
No matter whether or not we do transit, we absolutely must improve our road network by converting US 41/Cobb Parkway into a super-artery as well as widening and upgrading other key major roads in the county as critically-needed road improvements should be non-negotiable.
How much of that dollar amount would be taken up in right of way acquisition?
How many existing businesses would be negatively impacted in that corridor from these changes?
Rarely do you find a portion of U.S. 41 that is more than a mile from I-75. How does it make sense to use, what I can only imagine a large dollar amount, to create a parallel mini freeway within a mile from an existing super-highway?
Only those who use the tolled express lanes would pay the tolls, tolls that could be avoided by taking the local surface lanes that would run in each direction on the outside of the high-speed express toll lanes on the inside (3 toll lanes and 2 free surface lanes in each direction).
Even if we eventually end up going with a transit-heavy solution to traffic congestion in the form of SELF-FUNDED and SELF-SUSTAINING regional commuter rail and light rail on the CSX/Western & Atlantic railroad right-of-way, converting U.S. 41 into a super-artery with tolled express lanes built to Interstate Standards makes a lot of sense as a way to relieve extremely-heavy cargo truck and car traffic from I-75 between the I-285 Cobb Cloverleaf and Cartersville.
The extremely heavy truck traffic that uses the "West Wall" of I-285 up to I-75 between I-285 and Cartersville could instead use I-285 to U.S. 41 north to I-75 as a western truck route alternative to I-75.
The very-heavy truck traffic along with the very-heavy car traffic that would use a 41 super-artery would also contribute heavily to the toll collections on the road, meaning that the heavy collections of tolls would help the payoff the bonds that finance the road's construction early while also helping to continue to operate and maintain a very busy and critical road link in Northwest Metro Atlanta.
Major controlled-access roads like U.S. 41/Skokie Highway in the Northern Suburbs of Chicago (splits-off from I-94 north of the city, runs parallel to I-94 and rejoins I-94 just south of the Wisconsin state line), TX 310-Old U.S. 75/South Central Expressway on the Southside of Dallas (runs closely parallel to I-45), U.S. 1 on the Northside of Boston (runs closely parallel to I-93 & I-95), Business Route I-85/US 29-70 through Central North Carolina (runs closely parallel to I-85 through Kannapolis, Salisbury, Lexington, Thomasville & High Point, NC), US Hwy 29-50 in Northern Virginia (runs closely parallel to I-66 through the Western Suburbs of Washington D.C.) and the TX 548/Hardy Toll Road in North Metro Houston (runs closely parallel to I-45 in North Houston) all take traffic off of the mainline Interstate while serving as a local expressway alternative to the mainline Interstate...Sort of like the Old I-85 Northeast Expressway (now GA Hwy 13/Buford Highway) is used as a local on-and-off ramp and collector/distributor for the newer I-85/Northeast Expressway on the near-Northeastside of Atlanta.
For example, traffic that needs to go to or come from a destination west off of U.S. 41/Cobb Parkway would use the U.S. 41/Cobb Parkway super-artery instead of using the always rush-hour gridlocked I-75.
Heavy truck traffic that is headed northbound on the "West Wall" of I-285 and headed for Chattanooga could use the tolled-express lanes on U.S. 41 instead of I-75 which would be freed-up for through traffic and more local traffic coming from the I-285 (Top End or West Wall) to use I-75 from travel to (and from) points east of I-75 and along I-575 in Cherokee County.
Converting 41 to a free/tolled super-artery is also a way to relieve traffic without significant disruption to the community as the adequate right-of-way already exists along 41/Cobb Parkway to implement the project without taking homes and businesses.
I'm sure that the figures are still fractions cheaper than light rail, but for how long?
Also, how are we going to power the light rail system? Is Maglev still on the table? Can we go electric for now and switch to something even more renewable in the future?