"The last few days have seen a turn in the weather both literally and figuratively.

While the rain is important in helping to replenish Lake Lanier and Allatoona, a new openness to solving Georgia's transportation funding crisis may mean that transportation plans that were once on the chopping block could be replenished as well.

As the Joint House Senate Transportation Funding Study Committee wraps up its work, a new consensus approach that combines elements of the regional and state plans has begun to take shape.  The plan would allow for a statewide vote on a constitutional referendum to create regional transportation districts across the state which would then bring a regional transportation plan to the voters of that region along with a request for up to 1 penny to pay for it.  The concept (dubbed the T-SPLOST by Lt. Governor Cagle in a recent article in the Gainesville Times, see below) is still very new and most of the details on issues like what the regions would look like and who would create the transportation plan have not been worked out. 

However, some study committee members have indicated they like the fact that it brings the statewide effort led by the DOT and contracting community together with the regional SPLOST plan presented by the chambers of commerce in the metro region and around the state.  This, of course, has been the goal all along of the Get Georgia Moving Coalition which the RBC helped found with the Metro Atlanta Chamber, ACCG, the Georgia Chamber, Georgians for Better Transportation, the State Highway Contractors Association and others.

The Governor and legislative leaders are not ready to endorse anything at this time, but meetings at the staff level have indicated an interest in the concept. In fact one staffer made the comment, "The stars seem to be aligning," for a transportation funding solution.  It's too early to state that with any certainty, but the discussion has been more positive in the last week than at any point in the last year and a half.

It will take much work and the full support of the business community and our local leaders at every step to move any solution through the legislative process.  That process kicks off on January 14th."