Transit debate still splitting opinion

Transit has been a third-rail issue in metro Atlanta politics for some five decades, going back to Cobb and Gwinnett counties’ refusal to join MARTA in its formative years.

So public transportation advocates were heartened in January when Fulton County commissioners and mayors agreed on a transit expansion plan funded in part by a half-penny sales tax, raising $4.9 billion over 40 years.

Fulton would get bus rapid transit on Ga. 400, Holcomb Bridge Road, U.S. 29 and South Fulton Parkway, and bus arterial rapid transit on Roswell Road, Old Milton Parkway, Ga. 141, Fulton Industrial Boulevard and Camp Creek Parkway.

Yet almost immediately, two North Fulton mayors objected. They said the case hadn’t been made that transit would relieve traffic congestion.

Johns Creek Mayor Mike Bodker said the only sensible choice to handle congestion and avert high-density development “is one that does not involve the investment in light or heavy rail.” Bodker also was skeptical of the improved bus service.

Newly elected Roswell Mayor Lori Henry said bus rapid transit would worsen congestion on Roswell Road, and a right-of-way for buses was nonexistent on Holcomb Bridge.

Henry’s predecessor, Roswell Mayor Jere Wood, however, favored transit.

“In my mind, transit is inevitable,” Wood told the AJC in December. “North Fulton and Alpharetta, in particular, are growing very rapidly . ... New business is coming, and it’s going to be in the Ga. 400 corridor.”

Cobb and Gwinnett are believed out of the running for Amazon’s second headquarters and its 50,000 jobs, because they have no rail transit and millennials supposedly do not like to drive. NCR and AthenaHealth left the suburbs for in-town sites. Other companies like State Farm located close to MARTA stations.

Is transit the solution to congestion, or will it degrade the OTP quality of life? Tell us what you think. Send comments by email to: communitynews@ajc.com