Council Hears Update on Northwest Atlanta Corridor Study
Cobb DOT officials updated Kennesaw on a study designed to identify mass transportation options that could improve the I-75 and U.S. 41 corridors in Northeast Cobb.
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Marietta-based Croy Engineering has been tasked with project management of a transit study that will examine mass transportation options that could improve traffic along the Interstate 75 and U.S. 41 corridors.
Kennesaw–along with Acworth, Northeast Cobb, Marietta and Smyrna–is among the partners in the regionwide project, which will involve dozens of private companies and beneficiaries, as well as millions of tax dollars.
Cobb Transportation Director Faye DiMassimo held the floor for the majority of this week's Kennesaw City Council meeting and updated the council on the progress of the study, which is estimated to take 18 to 24 months.
DiMassimo said potential benefits of a regional mass transit system include congestion relief on major interstates, particularly I-75, and job growth in accordance with the labor needs. She also said a mass transit system would make it easier to reach the consumers in all corners of the area.
The alternatives analysis is funded by a $1.36 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration. Cobb County was one of 21 applicant counties selected from a list of 70 to receive a grant for research.
Beneficiaries of the project include Cobb County, Kennesaw State University, the Town Center community improvement district and MARTA.
The project will involve several private companies. While Croy Engineering has been awarded project management, others–including Cambridge Systematics and Jacobs Engineering–will be tasked with segments of the project.
The study is one of more than 20 development projects currently under construction and in design in Cobb County.
Marlene Mitchell
9:44 am on Saturday, July 30, 2011
It is my understanding that mass transportation will never break even and will always be a drain on the tax payer. How will this be addressed and not be ignored? I am not against mass transit, I'm only against the continued glossing over the fact that the tax payer will be funding this far into the future whether it is efficient or not.
James 'Doc' Eaton
3:47 am on Sunday, July 31, 2011
Living in a country with 1.4 Billion People (China), it's hard to imagine moving that many people around without Mass Transit. We need to get people out of their one car/one driver attitude and start to realize that our gas prices are not going to get any lower. At $4 per gallon with is much better that $4 per Liter, a $2-3 train ticket looks pretty good and you don't have to worry about thos outrageous downtown parking fees. I rode the trains in Chicago for years and hated the days that I had to make out of office calls because that ment that I had to drive and fight the traffic. the Northeasterners have been riding trains for years and we should have done this when we were building I-75 30 yeaqrs ago when we still had the right of way and not 6 lanes in and 6 lanes out. Enuf Said. Doc Eaton
Marlene Mitchell
11:59 am on Sunday, July 31, 2011
Mass transit in China is fully funded by the government which means at the expense of the people. The USA is not China or Europe. Parts of our own country don't resemble each other so let us not try to compare apple to oranges. I want to see a working transit system for us, not a warmed over version of what might be working in Chicago, Boston and New York. Our sprawl doesn't even come close to how the other cities look or operate. Our government today is far more interested in growing their power base than actually doing something right. We need to be very critical of any plan and make sure it fits our needs and not another politicians wet dream for "their' future. Too much money has gone down into the black hole of government with very little to show for it.
I road mass transit in Seattle over thirty five years ago and it was SO much easier than taking my car to work. Mass transit in Seattle today is a mess and costly and the only thing that has changed is the governing body. Enuf Said.
Matt McW
9:05 am on Monday, August 1, 2011
As Ms. Mitchell indicates, it is critically important to get the right project list to best serve metro Atlanta's transportation needs.
Fair Share for Transit has released a white paper to help the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable identify the transit projects that merit consideration for the final project list. The Transportation Investment Act raises important questions about the region's future that need to be discussed now. Read the white paper: http://www.livablecommunitiescoalition.org/uploads/100012_bodycontentfiles/100767.pdf