|
Home >
Legislative Tracker
> Georgia Streetcar Revitalization Act
Transportation:
Georgia Streetcar Revitalization Act
Our Position: support
Bill Number: SB150
Sponsor: Sen. Sam Zamarippa
Legislative Session: 2006
SB 150, by Sen. Sam Zamarripa, amends the State Road and Tollway Authority Act to allow that sometimes controversial body to do something plainly useful: promote light rail transit and higher density development, instead of more roads into Outer Suburbia, until Atlanta manages to Sprawl from Anniston to Spartanburg. The Peachtree Trolley, the Belt Line and similar proposals would be eligible for grants under a five-year pilot program to promote such transportation efforts. These projects can spur additional investment by the private sector along new transportation corridors, redeveloping intown properties and increasing population density and the services available to them.
Status
Passed
Action Needed
Call your State Representative and urge them to support this bipartisan, urban-rural partnership that can yield immense benefits.
Background
Carlines are proven enhancers of property values, because the developers of lineside locations know that the track in the right of way is a permanent investment feature—unlike a bus line, which is invisible without the vehicle itself, and can be switched to another route, anywhere, on a moment’s notice. That flexibility is attractive to dispatchers and routing planners, but it is of no help to the developers whose investments can assure a ridership base for the services they would schedule. Zamarripa is charting a decidedly new path for Georgia Transportation Politics, one that can lead out of the traffic jams the current planners have crafted for the state. The great “virtue” of the present arrangement is that it provides jobs the current office holders can understand: spreading asphalt, year after sorry year. SB 150 is a small step toward a new way to get around town, and new town to get around in.
|
