Georgia 400 tolls finally being lifted: in 2013

[ATLRedSoxFan]

Stumbled across this link a few minutes ago: http://www.11alive.com/news/article/248915/3/Deal-GA-400-tolls-going-away-in-2013  Even though I don't live in Atlanta anymore, great to see Gov. Deal is following through!

[Alps]

We'll see, the last time this happened the tolls came back a week later. Still, someday I'd like to drive that road.

[xonhulu]

Does this mean that US 19 might possibly be moved onto that soon-to-be toll free section of GA 400?  It would be a more logical to line up 19's routings north and south of I-285.

[Grzrd]

That 1 Cent Sales Tax Vote in July is gonna be Huge!

This Untie Atlanta website has an interactive map that shows the projects that would be supported by the sales tax.

(above quote from Georgia thread)

Stumbled across this link a few minutes ago: http://www.11alive.com/news/article/248915/3/Deal-GA-400-tolls-going-away-in-2013  Even though I don't live in Atlanta anymore, great to see Gov. Deal is following through!

This article sets forth the relationship between Gov. Deal's announcement and the upcoming July 31 T-SPLOST vote; basically, the timing of his announcement is raising suspicions:

Looking to restore public confidence in state government spending ahead of the hard-fought campaign over the transportation tax referendum on the upcoming primary ballot, Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday announced the end of tolls on Ga. 400 by the end of next year.
Deal said the announcement makes good on a promise he made to voters.
"It should convey to the public that government should be trusted," Deal told reporters in a press conference at the Capitol. "For some, the argument against the TSPLOST is about trust. I want to remove that impression, and I think this is a good faith effort to do exactly that."
Opponents of the transportation tax proposal have blasted the plan as a losing strategy that does not address sprawl or smart growth. Georgia Tea Party Patriots State Coordinator Debbie Dooley said Thursday the governor's decision was "insulting."
"Desperation ... that's all this is," Dooley said. "If they keep doing this, it could help, but it does nothing to restore trust before the vote. It's a good thing, but his intentions are not to help the taxpayers. His intentions are to help with the passage of the largest tax increase in Georgia history. He must think voters are pretty shallow not to see past this obvious ploy."
Metro Atlanta, along with the rest of the state, is set to vote on the referendum on July 31. The outcome is expected to be close, and Deal _ along with Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and members of the region's business community _ have expressed their support .... The bonds were set to mature on June 1, 2017. Deal said the state will now pay them off four years ahead of schedule, in December of next year. The earlier payment is the soonest the state can act to avoid costly penalties, Deal said.

Deal was inaugurated in Jan., 2011. So, it has taken eighteen months to figure out the earliest date to pay off the bonds with no early payment penalty?

This blog describes the announcement as an "obvious pander" for "yes" votes:

Coming 12 days before the T-SPLOST referendum, this is an obvious pander for "yes"  votes. It's a last-ditch attempt to save what would appear to be an expensive but failed campaign to pass the $7.2 billion tax. But I highly doubt it will be an effective one.
There is no doubt the broken promise to remove the 400 toll – broken in 2010 by lame-duck Gov. Sonny Perdue – is a huge driver of opposition to the T-SPLOST. It is one of the clearest examples of why trust in government is lacking. Deal addressed this issue in a press-release quote about removing the toll, saying "it is imperative that governments build the trust of their people."
But I will be very surprised if many voters upset about the broken toll promise hear Deal's new promise to take it down – 17 months from now – and suddenly feel their faith in government renewed. In all likelihood, the damage is done.

[74/171FAN]

We'll see, the last time this happened the tolls came back a week later. Still, someday I'd like to drive that road.

The first time I was on GA 400 I was the only one that knew it was a toll road as none of my friends using the GPS realized that. In fact, I had to pay the toll.

[hbelkins]

Opponents of the transportation tax proposal have blasted the plan as a losing strategy that does not address sprawl or smart growth. Georgia Tea Party Patriots State Coordinator Debbie Dooley said Thursday the governor's decision was "insulting."

WTF? A true Tea Party sympathizer would not want the state to address sprawl or smart growth, because to do so would place further regulations on free enterprise and property ownership rights. The Tea Party in general advocates a "hands-off" approach to economic issues or regulations/restrictions on property use. No Tea Partier worth his or her tea would want to restrict the ability of property owners to sell their property or to develop it. They want more economic activity, not less.

[NE2]

Unless that economic activity offends their morals?

[Alps]

Opponents of the transportation tax proposal have blasted the plan as a losing strategy that does not address sprawl or smart growth. Georgia Tea Party Patriots State Coordinator Debbie Dooley said Thursday the governor's decision was "insulting."

WTF? A true Tea Party sympathizer would not want the state to address sprawl or smart growth, because to do so would place further regulations on free enterprise and property ownership rights. The Tea Party in general advocates a "hands-off" approach to economic issues or regulations/restrictions on property use. No Tea Partier worth his or her tea would want to restrict the ability of property owners to sell their property or to develop it. They want more economic activity, not less.

We're going to put a stop to the political discussion in this thread now. For what it's worth, I think this is an example of poor journalism, juxtaposing the opinions of two different groups in the same paragraph. Agreed that Tea Partiers would advocate "hands-off", and would never talk about "smart growth" (a liberal concept). I'm sure there was a different reason to be opposed, probably because tolls make the road user-supported rather than government-supported. If you want to have that ideological discussion, please go off-forum.

[SSF]

I will believe the tolls are removed when the toll booths come down; I suspect this is bluster from the governor ahead of July 31st. 

[Grzrd]

WTF? A true Tea Party sympathizer would not want the state to address sprawl or smart growth, because to do so would place further regulations on free enterprise and property ownership rights. The Tea Party in general advocates a "hands-off" approach to economic issues or regulations/restrictions on property use. No Tea Partier worth his or her tea would want to restrict the ability of property owners to sell their property or to develop it. They want more economic activity, not less.

We're going to put a stop to the political discussion in this thread now. For what it's worth, I think this is an example of poor journalism, juxtaposing the opinions of two different groups in the same paragraph. Agreed that Tea Partiers would advocate "hands-off", and would never talk about "smart growth" (a liberal concept). I'm sure there was a different reason to be opposed, probably because tolls make the road user-supported rather than government-supported. If you want to have that ideological discussion, please go off-forum.

This July 28 blog reinforces the notion that it was a poor paragraph; however, it explains the unholy alliance between the Sierra Club and the Tea Party in opposition to the T-SPLOST (the enemy of my enemy is my friend ...):

Colleen Kiernan couldn't remember the exact day the alliance was formed. But it was over lunch, and definitely in the spring, said the director of the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club.
"Right around Earth Day,"  Kiernan said, using a marker that probably never occurred to her partner, Debbie Dooley, a founder of the Atlanta Tea Party Patriots.
At table that day, the two women from opposite ends of the political spectrum quickly discovered they had something in common. "Conservatives and Republicans are not the only voters that distrust their elected officials. There is a lot of distrust among Democrats as well,"  Dooley said ....
But the crux of this disparate opposition has been the partnership between the Sierra Club, one of the few environmental groups to stand against the sales tax referendum, and a tea party movement unafraid of forming temporary friendships.
Differences were supposed to make even a short-term alliance ineffective. The Sierra Club opposes the TSPLOST because its $6.2 billion spending package doesn't include enough rail. Tea partyists have denounced the same package for including too much emphasis on rail.
But suspicion of cronyism and back-room deals has served as an effective, non-ideological glue for both sides. And by sticking together, the two groups have permitted right and left wings to communicate and coordinate in a way that otherwise would have been unlikely. For instance, state Sen. Vincent Fort, a liberal Atlanta Democrat, recently wanted a tea party presence at an anti-TSLOST event he was organizing He called an old ally, Sierra Club lobbyist Neil Herring, who completed the connection. Problem solved.
On Friday, the Sierra Club and Atlanta Tea Party Patriots held a news conference at the state Capitol — but not for a final push against the TSPLOST. They were much too confident for that.
They were there to talk about Plan B – what should be done beginning Wednesday, should the transportation sales tax be defeated ....

Voting ends today.  This report indicates that passage seems unlikely:

Because of the TSPLOST, voter turnout is expected to be around 25-30 percent, unusually high for a general primary. By comparison, only 18.6 percent of voters punched their ballot for the general primary in 2008.
"The higher turnout so far that has been reported is in Cobb, Cherokee, north Fulton and Gwinnett,"  said News/Talk WSB political analyst Bill Crane. "Those areas are poling 3-to-1 against the TSPLOST."  ....
The latest round of polling shows the TSPLOST supporters will almost have to pull off a miracle to get the referendum passed.
Only 35 percent of voters said they were going to vote yes on the one cent sales tax, while 55 percent are going the other way. 10 percent are undecided according to the poll commissioned by WSB-TV/Rosetta Stone Communications.
"The people voting no start out with a base vote of about 35 percent who vote against any and every tax increase,"  said Crane. "So they only had to sway 16 percent (of undecided voters) in that direction. Those pushing this have to get half of voters, plus one. That's the bigger challenge."

[SSF]

Atlanta's TSPLOST is getting smoked 67-33 percent with 21 percent of the vote in

edited to add: AJC's TSPLOST results page is http://www.ajc.com/news/tsplost-results-1483968.html

[cpzilliacus]

Atlanta's TSPLOST is getting smoked 67-33 percent with 21 percent of the vote in

edited to add: AJC's TSPLOST results page is http://www.ajc.com/news/tsplost-results-1483968.html

Blown out of the water. 

AJC article:  Voters reject transportation tax

Distrustful of government and riven by differences, metro Atlanta voters on Tuesday rejected a $7.2 billion transportation plan that business leaders have called an essential bulwark against regional decline.

The defeat of the 10-year, 1 percent sales tax leaves the Atlanta region's traffic congestion problem with no visible remedy. It marks failure not only for the tax but for the first attempt ever to unify the 10-county region's disparate voters behind a plan of action.

[Chris]

T-SPLOST would not have done much to reduce Atlanta's traffic congestion anyway. It would be different if 7 out of $ 8 billion was directed to major road projects, instead of transit and minor road fixes.

If they wanted to significantly reduce congestion á la "free the freeways", the bulk of the funding should've gone towards the freeway bottlenecks, because that's where most people get stuck in traffic.

[cpzilliacus]

T-SPLOST would not have done much to reduce Atlanta's traffic congestion anyway. It would be different if 7 out of $ 8 billion was directed to major road projects, instead of transit and minor road fixes.

Chris, I agree and disagree.  Rail transit seldom has done anything for highway congestion in the U.S. or elsewhere.  But sometimes "minor" (as in small and inexpensive) fixes can have big payoffs.  Widening a ramp connection between two freeway segments is an example of a relatively inexpensive improvement that can provide big congestion relief.

If they wanted to significantly reduce congestion á la "free the freeways", the bulk of the funding should've gone towards the freeway bottlenecks, because that's where most people get stuck in traffic.

No dispute there.  The reconstruction of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge between Oxon Hill, Maryland and Alexandria, Virginia has had a huge impact in terms of congestion relief.  But it was an expensive project that has taken over 10 years to complete.