Growing county plots transit future

Henry County leaders began plotting their transit future Thursday with assistance from a north metro Atlanta colleague who knows the perils of addressing traffic gridlock too late: Gwinnett Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash.

At a town hall panel discussion about the state’s recently passed regional transit legislation and its impact on Henry, Nash told the audience it’s vital to support a variety of transit options before growth gets out of control. At more than 920,000 people, Gwinnett is trying to boost its transit options — including a link to MARTA’s heavy rail — after struggling for years as one of metro Atlanta’s worst commutes.

“In some ways I envy Henry County because y’all are at a point where you have a slate that has less written on it than Gwinnett does,” said Nash, adding that Gwinnett has had transit for years, but that it was not robust enough to keep pace with the county’s growth. “Y’all got the opportunity to set things in motion for the future.”

Henry leaders are planning community meetings to determine whether buses, rail or other transit options make sense for the south metro community.

The state legislature in March passed a bill that allows 13 counties in metro Atlanta to hold referendums to raise taxes for transit. The move is part of a push to create a more seamless regional transit system in metro Atlanta, though counties are not required to participate. The counties include Cherokee, Clayton, Coweta, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding and Rockdale.

The discussions are critical as Henry, like Gwinnett, has seen explosive growth over the years. What was once a county of about 58,700 people in 1990 is now home to 225,800 residents, according to July 2017 U.S. Census figures. In the last 17 years alone, the county added more than 100,000 people.

The talks also spotlight the differences in how south metro Atlanta counties, which lag behind north Atlanta communities in high-paying jobs and Fortune 500 company relocations, are addressing transit. Neighboring Clayton County has gone all in with MARTA buses and hopes of heavy rail in the future while the Fayette County Commission voted earlier this year to reject participation in state regional transit plans.

Henry has had limited on-demand transit services since the 1980s and has been discussing transportation alternatives since 2008, June Wood, chairwoman of the Henry County Commission, told the panel.

Earlier this year, Henry launched a fixed-route bus as a test of customer demand. The service, which runs Monday to Friday for a limited number of hours, has struggled with ridership and has twice made route changes to try to find its footing, said Taleim “Tye” Salters, director of Henry County Transit.

But Wood said the need for transit will grow. More residents leave the county daily for work than commute in, and gridlock — something unheard of in Henry two decades ago — is now a common occurrence.

“We have got to start thinking proactively about the future and what and how we’re going to address this,” she said.

But she cautioned that the county also has to weigh the views of transit skeptics for whom buses and trains are synonymous with crime.

David Haynes, a senior planner at the Atlanta Regional Commission, and Dana Lemon, who represents Henry at the Georgia Department of Transportation, told the panel the build out of a regional system will take years and that counties have discretion in how much they want to be involved.

Lynda Mesko, who has lived in Henry for 25 years and came to the meeting to show her support for transit, said she has seen Henry morph from small town community to a bustling suburb. A native of Chicago, she thinks Henry will eventually join the rest of metro Atlanta in a connected service.

“The influx of diverse people coming into this county, they are ready for this,” she said.