New Funding, New Priorities for Georgia Department of Transportation

"The new leadership team at the Georgia Department of Transportation came to the newspaper’s office last week and announced, as new leadership teams often do, that it’s a new era, and that there’s an unprecedented spirit of collaboration that will pull the state out of the ditch regarding highway maintenance and traffic congestion," reports Tom Sabulls. "They even acknowledged the important role played by MARTA."

The conversation occurred with Jay Roberts, GDOT’s new planning director, who was appointed by Governor Nathan Deal earlier this year. Roberts comes to the position with a track recordof surrporting transportation funding. According to Sabulls, "[a]s state representative from Ocilla, [Roberts] led the passage of House Bill 170, the Transportation Funding Act of 2015, which is expected to boost revenue, adding nearly $1 billion annually through a gas tax hike and other fees. It also allows counties to consider new taxes — so-called mini-TSPLOSTs — for transportation improvements." Several counties, including Fulton County, are already taking advantage of that opportunity.

The article goes on to discuss the priorities of GDOT as it works with the new funding flexibility that $1 billion brings. In addition to mentioning maintenance of existing roads and, where possible, construction of new roads, GDOT is also working to address a growing rate of highway fatalities. "Georgia is on track for 1,200 or more fatalities in 2015 — which, according to GDOT’s website, would mark the first increase in annual fatalities in nine years," according to Sabulls.