McKinney - House Legislation

TRANSPORTATION

The federal government spends massive amounts of money on transportation investments. I have always aggressively sought our fair share of transportation dollars for the communities I serve. However, dollar amounts alone are not enough. How transportation investments are made is perhaps more important than the amounts.

The failed policies of the past viewed transportation investments merely as a way to allow people to drive farther and faster with little regard for our communities and the environment. However transportation investments based solely on widening roads can have negative consequences. As seen in the Fourth District, focusing on wider highways can have a negative impact on our communities by encouraging disinvestment from older communities such as those along South Candler Road and the South DeKalb Mall and encouraging conversion of forests to subdivisions where the local road system is ill-equipped to handle the additional cars. And those who sit in traffic on I-20 or on I-285 East can attest to the fact that merely widening roads at best provides only temporary relief.

In addition, we must acknowledge the role that congestion, a lack of adequate mass transit facilities, and the resultant air pollution we are experiencing, has also contributed to the higher rates of asthma contracted by our children. I have tried to address these issues by focusing on MARTA and GRTA and other mass transit opportunities for our Distrrict and our State.

While development and zoning are reserved to the local government, federal spending on transportation ends up playing a huge role relative to the type of development that takes place in our communities. As noted by the advocacy group Smart Growth America "The structure of the transportation network is the skeleton which supports smart growth or sprawling development. . . . the most sprawling places have proven the most dangerous for people who use the simplest form of transportation of all, walking."

This is why my aggressive pursuit of transportation dollars for the 4th district and my advocacy for transportation policy in Washington DC has always focused not only on our ability to get to school, work or the store but also on the quality of our communities and our environment. To that end during the recent extension of the Federal Transportation bill I successfully asked for:

Pedestrian enhancements to prevent accidents; Sidewalks around our schools;
Traffic signal enhancements to decrease congestion;
Study money to further relieve traffic in southeast DeKalb;
Northlake streetscapes;
Bus Rapid Transit and pedestrian and bicycle enhancements for Memorial Drive;
Pedestrian safety improvements for Buford Highway and the City of Clarkston;
Sidewalks along Stone Mountain-Lithonia Road;
Road improvements along Rockbridge Road;
Greenway trails to enhance recreation;
An eastward extension of the HOV lanes along I-20 that not only encourages carpooling but also improves bus service; and:
Continuation of the MARTA Rail I-20 Corridor Project. Finally, the State of Georgia is a transportation hub for our country.

We are known for our ports of Savannah and Brunswick and our airport which is often the busiest in the country. It is important to our State economy that we remain competitive in all areas of transportation. It is reported that ten of the 18 fastest growing counties in the country are in Georgia. As the state and others focus on steering transportation investments and thus job creation to the North Metro Atlanta area, it will be important to make sure that we aggressively prevent other regions of Metropolitan Atlanta, such as DeKalb, Gwinnett,and Rockdale Counties, from being left out.