Category Archives: Transportation

Transportation plan open house @ SGRC 2012-05-22

Received 1 June 2012 about the 22 May 2012 VLMPO Open House at SGRC. The “Transportation Improvement Program, or TIP, is the short-range plan approved by the VLMPO Policy Committee that allows federal funds to be spent on various transportation projects in the region.” -jsq

I attended the transportation plan open house on the day that anyone could come from early morning until 7:00 PM and when I went at 5, I was only the sixth person who had been there all day. Corey Hull showed me and four other people the plan, answered our questions, explained the difference between this long term plan and the TSPLOST and there was a discussion about how one might go about becoming a bus services provider in the area. The amount of money allocated to the city of Valdosta for transportation is not an amount that is near what a bus system would cost, so there still will have to be other funds available to make that possible. Even though our group brought the attendance for the day up to 10 citizens, it was a huge improvement over the last open house, when NO ONE showed. Corey Hull was very helpful and had a lot of information that probably would have been fascinating to others if they had attended, but once again there was virtually no input.

-Jane F. Osborn, MSSW
Valdosta, GA
229-630-0924

According to projects submitted for T-SPLOST, a bus system would cost about $7.5 million (startup and a few years run-time), but that got cut first pass, while $12 million for widening one road is still in the T-SPLOST list. I’m told that public transportation is not an issue around here. If people think it is, maybe they should show up at meetings like the one SGRC organized about the other transportation plan and say they want a bus system.

-jsq

Videos @ SGRC 2011-09-19

Almost all the speakers from Lowndes County or Valdosta opposed T-SPLOST at the 19 September 2011 public hearing, as you can see in these videos.

Some of the videos have already been blogged separately, along with some closely related posts:

And finally, beware! Most of the discussion in these videos is about specific lists of non-discretionary projects. There’s also 25% of the T-SPLOST money that could be spent on discretionary projects, which are already being specified by the local governments, and which may include many of the same projects that were on the original unconstrained project list but got bumped off the constrained list.

Here’s a video playlist:

Videos
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull, Travis Harper,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Aviation Projects, and Valdosta is a substantial donor –Larry Hanson @ T-SPLOST 2011-09-19 @ SGRC 2011-09-19

Larry Hanson, Valdosta City Manager, asked for the regional council to reconsider aviation projects, especially considering that the tax was supposed to be for projects of regional significance. Then he pointed out

Out of that $503 million about 40% of it or $212 million is projected to be generated here in Lowndes County. And when you look at what's being returned, for instance to the city of Valdosta, it's $47 million. It is certainly one thing to be a donor, but that's a pretty substantial donor.

He said he appreciated all the other counties, but much of the money would go to counties that are not contiguous to Lowndes County and are not part of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which includes the four counties of Lowndes, Brooks, Lanier, and Echols. He continued:

Lowndes County is about 26% of the region's population and we generate about 38% of the revenue, and we're not quite getting that back in terms of the distribution.

You may wonder why a City of Valdosta official was speaking for Lowndes County. County Manager Joe Pritchard was there at the start of the meeting, and I think County Engineer Mike Fletcher was, as well. County Chairman Ashley Paulk came in late and summoned Pritchard and Fletcher outside the glass doors of the meeting room. They stood there for quite some time, peering in, and then vanished.

Here's the video:

Aviation Projects, and Valdosta is a substantial donor –Larry Hanson @ T-SPLOST 2011-09-19
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Why did old US 41 N increase from $8 M to $12 M? —John S. Quarterman @ SGRC 2011-09-19

I asked why the Old US 41 North widening project changed from $8 million on the unconstrained list to $12 million on the constrained list, an increase of $4 million or 50% when the description did not change? The answer indicates GDOT and local governments want to drive development north in the county, leaving pedestrians and bicyclists stranded yet having to pay.

Corey Hull responded:

Halfway through we received new cost estimates….

GDOT did the cost estimates, in cooperation with the local government that was responsible for that.

A state employee told me after the meeting that GDOT raised some estimates because it thought the local government, in this case the Lowndes County Commission and staff, didn’t put in enough to cover the project. I don’t know whether GDOT was figuring by Atlanta costs or not…. At least the cost didn’t go up further in the final project list; I just checked and it’s still $12 million.

Corey elaborated that some projects increased and some decreased. I asked him which ones did which. He said he’d have to go back and compare. Later he helped me produce a list of comparisons of costs of Lowndes County projects, which shows that one went down by 30% and three went up by 50% or more. One, RC11-000099 St. Augustine at Norman Intersection Improvements, went up by 131.5%.

That $12 million for widening less than 3 miles of one road is more than one item that was in the unconstrained list but cut from the constrained list: $7.5 million for a bus system, with three bus lines that would connect Wiregrass Tech, Five Points, Downtown, Moody, East Side, South Side, West Side, and the Mall. A bus system recommended by the Industrial Authority’s Community Assessment to aid in employee attendance, industry recruitment, and workforce.

You could probably even start up a substantial commuter rail system using existing freight line tracks for less than $12 million. Even though GDOT apparently only believes in roads and bridges, busses and trains are actually more cost-effective, especially for lower-income people. The same lower-income people who will be disproportionately taxed by T-SPLOST as a percentage of their income.

Instead, the description for the Old US 41 North project admits the county is driving Continue reading →

Gasoline tax? —Roy Taylor @ SGRC 2011-09-19

Roy Taylor pointed out gas taxes are higher in Florida, and:

The people who use the gas pay the tax.

Then he told a story about a woman he knows who can't afford T-SPLOST.

Yes, he seemed to be proposing a gasoline tax to pay for transportation projects, an idea which I've been floating for some time. That's how Eisenhower paid for the Interstate Highway System: gasoline and diesel fuel taxes.

Here's the video:

Gasoline tax? —Roy Taylor
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

St. Augustine and Gornto Road in Final T-SPLOST list @ SGRC 2011-09-19

Maybe you’d like to know what are the T-SPLOST projects and how much they cost, so you can decide whether you think the tax is worth it (in addition to all the other considerations). That can take some work. Here’s an example.

Since Gretchen Quarterman asked what $5 million for one intersection would buy, T-SPLOST plans have been filed and a constrained list and then a final list approved by GDOT. Price tags jumped wildly up and down in the constrained list. For example, widening less than 3 miles of Old US 41 North from North Valdosta road to Union Road jumped from $8 million in June 2011 to $12 million in August.

In the final list, this item seems to be the one Gretchen was talking about:

RC11-000100 St Augustine Road at Gornto Road Intersection Improvements

You can find that one line on www.t-splost.com, which seems to be the state’s propaganda site for pushing T-SPLOST.

To find the current dollar amounts, you have to rummage around elsewhere until you find Continue reading →

Five million dollars for one intersection? —Gretchen Quarterman @ SGRC 2011-09-19

Gretchen Quarterman wanted to know what the money was going for, with an example:

…at Gornto. That's a total of 5 million dollars! I'm having trouble imagining what you could do for $5 million in that one block. Do you have to buy the new McDonald's that they're building? I mean what are we doing there?

Corey Hull said he didn't know, since at that time many of the projects didn't actually have plans. See the next post for what eventually happened with that one.

Here's the video:

Five million dollars for one intersection? —Gretchen Quarterman
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Not a special Local tax: it’s a Regional tax —Nolen Cox @ SGRC 2011-09-19

T-SPLOST is a misnomer: it's not a Special Location Option Sales Tax, since it's voted on as a region.

I think maybe we should have a gasoline tax to pay for roads.

Here's the video:

Not a special Local tax: it's a Regional tax –Nolen Cox
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq

Lowndes, Tift, and Ware donor counties and majority @ SGRC 2011-09-19

Someone asked:

If Lowndes, Tift, and Ware vote against it, and the other fifteen counties vote for it, that’s a majority.

Corey Hull:

As long as they reach 50% + 1 in voters.

Questioner:

Those three counties, which would probably be the three donor counties in this region… they could kill it for our region if it was a large turnout.

Roy Taylor:

A large county like we could kill it for everybody.

The referendum is still on for July (during the primary, with less turnout) not November (during the general election).

The eighteen counties are: Continue reading →

How do we vote on T-SPLOST? — Gretchen Quarterman @ SGRC 2011-09-19

T-SPLOST regions are an intermediate level of government in which all the people in the region vote together, not by counties.

Gretchen Quarterman asked:

When the 18 counties vote, is it county by county, say Atkinson votes yes, and Lowndes votes no, and if there were 9 counties that voted yes and 9 counties that voted no, or is it the total of all the voters together, and then we say there were 400,000 voters and it’s a simple majority.

Corey Hull answered:

It’s a simple majority. It’s the latter of how you described it, it’s all the voters together.

Here’s the video:

How do we vote on T-SPLOST?
T-SPLOST Public Meeting, Southern Georgia Regional Commission (SGRC),
Corey Hull,
Nolen Cox, Gretchen Quarterman,
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 19 September 2011.
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE).

-jsq