Dacula Mayor Asking for TSPLOST Input

is inviting Dacula residents to provide input regarding next year’s TSPLOST vote.

Next July, voters will be asked to approve a penny sales tax to fund a specified list of regional transportation projects. The tax, if passed, will remain in effect for 10 years.

Members of the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable executive committee are currently in the process of whittling down a 445-item, $22.9 billion "unconstrained" list of suggested transportation projects into a "constrained" list that can be funded with the revenue the proposed 1 percent transportation sales tax or TSPLOST is expected to generate. Eighty-five percent of the total proceeds will be allocated to fund the projects on the regional list, the remainder will go to city and county governments to use for local projects.

Local governments, transit agencies and other organizations from the 10-county metro Atlanta region submitted their suggestions for the transportation special purpose local option sales tax or TSPLOST project list earlier this year. The City of Dacula including replacing/widening the Dacula Road Bridge at Highway 29, widening Harbins Road to four lanes, extending Sugarloaf Parkway from Highway 316 to State Route 20 and building a Winder Highway bike trail from Dacula to Athens. Only one of the City of Dacula's projects, a joint proposal with Gwinnett County for the $301 million Sugarloaf Parkway extension, made the unconstrained list.

“I’ve heard some say that they will not vote for the TSPLOST unless the improvements for Harbins/Dacula Roads and the bridge are included. I’ve heard other say that they will vote against the TSPLOST no matter what,” Wilbanks wrote in a message on the City of Dacula website.

Wilbanks listed several TSPLOST related questions:

1. Would you be likely to vote for or against the TSPLOST based on the information you have at the present time?
2. Would you be more likely to vote for/against the TSPLOST if the bridge at Winder Highway were included in the constrained list?
3. Would you be more likely to vote for/against the TSPLOST if you knew that there are penalties for future transportation dollars if TSPLOST fails or the roundtable fails to produce a constrained list?
4. Would you be more likely to vote for/against the TSPLOST if some or all of the light and heavy transit projects were removed?

To participate in the survey, click here.