The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) has a pretty big job. Covering much of the metro Atlanta area, the ARC has a number of responsibilities to try and help out the 6 million or so living in the region. Perhaps chief among them, and likely with the most funding involved, is the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). TIP is the mechanism through which federal, state and local funds are approved for “significant” transportation projects across the region.
The latest news on TIP is the approval of more than $265 million in federal and state funds. More than $38 million of this is congressionally directed grants, $219 million in federal discretionary funding and $7.5 million in Georgia Department of Transportation fund sources. In total, the funding will go towards 33 new projects and 12 existing projects.
The biggest piece of this pie is $150 million to work on “The Stitch,” an effort to build a ‘cap’ over a section of the downtown connector in Atlanta. That $150 million will go toward engineering, right-of-way acquisition and some construction. Longtime news watchers may remember the Big Dig in Boston. At the time, it was the most expensive highway project in the United States but thanks to numerous cost overruns and delays, became synonymous with inefficiency and costly construction. Construction began in 1991 and it was originally scheduled to be completed in 1998 at a cost of $2.8 billion. Construction eventually ended in 2007 at a cost of more than $8 billion. Ultimately, the project did change the face of Boston, creating new waterfront and some $7 billion in new real estate values. One wonders if the Stitch may eventually follow a similar fate – city officials and construction managers are no doubt aware of the possible comparisons.
Another large piece of the funding is $64.9 million for the Flint River Gateway Trails in southwest Atlanta and Clayton County. The planned 31-mile multi-use trail network will connect to the Atlanta Beltline and link to the headwaters of the Flint River (which actually begins somewhere underneath the Atlanta airport). Trail segments are already being planned by the Aerotropolis Alliance (an economic development association in the airport region), East Point, College Park and Clayton County. The goal is to reconnect and expand recreation in an area that has long been dominated by the airport, two of the south’s busiest interstates and railroads. The funding will help prepare 16 miles of trail for construction and construct 3.2 miles.
Electric vehicle charging is another item in the plan, with $2 million allocated for charging stations along I-575 in Cherokee County and I-85 in Coweta County. That is on top of more than $6 million that ARC got for charging stations back in January to install 300-400 charging ports across the region. Costs for installing individual charging stations vary widely, somewhere between $500 or $2,000, though the cost for a “fast charger” can be in the tens of thousands. Someone remember to ask in about 2028 how many charging ports actually got installed with this $8 million.
To see a summary of the new funding, click here.
To see details of the full slate of projects, try navigating this site here. Warning, there is a lot of information packed in there and it can be difficult to navigate.
