Dacula Bridge Project Included in Draft TSPLOST List

The City of Dacula scored a victory Monday as two of the four projects proposed by the city were included in the .

The draft list (see pdf), which will now be presented to the full 21-member Atlanta Regional Roundtable, includes a bridge upgrade at Dacula Road and Highway 29 and well as the .

The bridge project is a scaled down version of the . However, the $10 million bridge upgrade is a much-needed improvement.

lobbied intensely to see that the project was included in the draft list.

“I told them what people were thinking out here really based on the (city’s) survey,” Wilbanks said. “That’s what it took.”

The bridge and approaches will be completely rebuilt if the project makes the final list and is eventually funded through the TSPLOST. Though Wilbanks is pleased the bridge project was included, he expressed disappointment the road widening was not part of the project list.

“They really do need to address Dacula Road and Harbins Road,” he said.

The other city project to make the list -- the $301 million extension of Sugarloaf Parkway from Dacula to Buford -- is one about which Mayor Jimmy Wilbanks has concerns.

“I have mixed feelings about it. It’s going to cut our city half in two really,” Wilbanks said.

Several other projects of interest to Dacula area commuters also made the draft list. A $33 million interchange at I-85 and Highway 324 made the list, as did a $50 million allocation for Gwinnett’s Express bus service. The draft list also included a $23 million grade separation project at Highway 316 and Harbins Road and a $51 million grade separation at Highway 316 and Highway 29. The grade separation projects will include either overpasses or underpasses at those exchanges, Wilbanks said.

In total, the executive committee of the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable approved a draft transportation project list of $6.14 billion to be funded by the . The draft list must be approved by the full Roundtable by Oct. 15 before the list is submitted to the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Next year, voters will be asked to approve a 1 percent sales tax to fund the projects on the list. The tax will remain in effect for the next 10 years. The referendum vote is currently scheduled for July 2012, but .

Wilbanks said at this point, he cannot say whether the TSPLOST is likely to pass.

“There are a lot of undecided folks out there as to whether they’re going to vote for this or vote against it and it’s going to be basically based on what the final project list is,” he said. “Yet, if this does not pass, there are going to be significant penalties for any future transportation projects.”

Though presented as a choice for voters, there are penalties if the public fails to approve next year’s TSPLOST referendum. H.B. 277, the Transportation Investment Act, contains penalties for regions that fail to adopt the TSPLOST. If a region adopts the TSPLOST, local governments will only be required to pay 10 percent in matching funds for projects receiving funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation. If the region holds a referendum, but fails to pass the TSPLOST, local governments will be required to post 30 percent in matching funds. If the Roundtable fails to reach an agreement on the constrained list and fails to hold the referendum, local governments in the Atlanta region would be required to pay 50 percent in matching funds for state aided transportation projects.

“There’s going to be significant increases in the cost of any future transportation project in the Atlanta area if the people in the 10-county ARC region don’t pass this thing,” Wilbanks said. “There are going to be significant penalties and that means it is going to be awfully expensive to build anything.”

Public meetings are planned in all 10 counties of the Atlanta region (Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale) to allow the public an opportunity to provide input regarding the proposed transportation project list. The Gwinnett meeting is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 26 at 5 p.m. at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center, 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville.

Wilbanks said it is important that people educate themselves about the referendum and learn what is at stake -- including the 15 percent of the projected TSPLOST revenue that will be allocated among the local governments.

“We’ve got to do something,” he said. “I don’t know where it’s going to go - I think people are going to make up their minds about a week before they go to the voting booth.”

Mayor Wilbanks has added information to the city’s website about the project list and has also reopened the city's transportation survey to allow