Subjects
Active cases
Closed cases
Wall of Shame
Please inform the webmaster of any broken links!
| Sites in Need of Protection
Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon County, Georgia
Go to Ocmulgee main page
Update: 2001 1 May
From: Lindsay Holliday
Subject: FLF - Gov Barnes threatens litigation, FOOF
Barnes gives support to road project
By Randall Savage
Telegraph Staff Writer
5-1-01 pA1
Gov. Roy Barnes promised Monday to get the Fall Line Freeway project moving forward even if it requires court action.
"We need to be connected between Macon and Columbus and Augusta," Barnes said. "If we're going to have litigation, let's go ahead and have it. It's time for us to resolve this issue."
The governor was in Macon to conduct a ceremonial signing of the bill that's designed to help the state secure the $2.3 billion needed to complete major road projects around the state, including the Fall Line Freeway. The freeway now stops at the end of Eisenhower Parkway.
In addition to a lack of funding, the freeway has been delayed because of objections from environmentalists who want to protect wetlands in the freeway's path and representatives of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, an Oklahoma-based group that doesn't want the highway coming too close to the Ocmulgee Indian Mounds in east Macon.
Tim Thompson, a research specialist with the Muscogee (Creek) Nation in Oklahoma declined to comment on the situation Monday. Thompson said the only person who could speak on the matter would be Chief Perry Beaver, who would be unavailable until today.
Susan Hanberry, president of the local environmental group Friends of Ocmulgee Old Fields, said her organizations has never opposed the Fall Line Freeway coming through Macon, just a proposed route. The state Department of Transportation does not have an approved or preferred route at present, she said.
"I think there is certainly a way to route the Fall Line Freeway through Macon that would provide economic benefits and still protect our heritage and culture," Hanberry said.
Officials should also look at proposed intermodal transportation facilities, including passenger rail, and factor that into the Fall Line Freeway decision, she said.
Lindsay Holliday, a member of Friends of Ocmulgee Old Fields, said it would be best to resolve the situation without litigation.
Both Holliday and Hanberry cited a NewTown Macon proposal that would route the freeway from its present ending at Eisenhower Parkway and Seventh Street along an abandoned rail line that parallels Seventh Street and runs across the Ocmulgee River.
That route would take a very small portion of the Ocmulgee Indian Mounds property, Holliday said, but it's possible the route would be accepted.
"There are feasible and prudent alternatives through Macon," Holliday said.
Barnes said he would let transportation specialists determine the route. But he emphasized that he wanted get the project moving.
The freeway was envisioned as an east-to-west corridor to join the cities of Augusta, Macon and Columbus, plus dozens of communities in between. It was intended to help raise the standard of living for hundreds of thousands of people along the way.
After taking office in January, Bibb County Commission Chairman Tommy Olmstead made completing the Fall Line Freeway a major goal of his administration. He, along with other commissioners, has since visited with Barnes and DOT Chairman Tom Coleman, urging them to get behind the project.
Olmstead was happy to learn of the governor's stance. "I had been in communication with (Barnes), and he committed to this. He said his number one priority was getting the Fall Line Freeway," Olmstead said. "We feel we've got the law on our side, and, finally, we're getting some attention about the Fall Line Freeway through Macon."
During his news conference, Barnes said good roads are essential if the state is going to have a good transportation system.
"Roads connect small towns to cities, airports to seaports, workers to jobs, students to technical schools and universities," Barnes said. "In the last decade alone, the amount of freight transported on Georgia roads and highways has increased by 43 percent."
Barnes noted that former Gov. Joe Frank Harris launched the Governor's Road Improvement Program (GRIP) 12 years ago. It was designed to improve the highway system in rural parts of the state, Barnes said.
Harris knew that while Atlanta and the surrounding area prospered, other areas of the state were being bypassed because they were off the main routes.
When completed, Barnes said, GRIP will connect 92 percent of the state's towns with a population of 2,500 or more to the interstate highway system. It will also bring four-lane roads within 20 miles of almost every resident.
About 60 percent of the GRIP program has been completed in the last 12 years.
"The effort has paid off, helping to create an estimated 15,000 new jobs," Barnes said. "But we're not finished yet. It will take an estimated $2.3 billion in today's costs to complete the GRIP program."
The projects include:
• $190 million for the remaining 83 miles of the Savannah River Parkway, which will connect Augusta to Savannah and its port.
• $290 million for the final 85 miles of the Fall Line Freeway, and $58 million to finish the Golden Isles Parkway that will link Middle Georgia to the fast-growing coast and the port of Brunswick.
• $129 million for the final 54-mile segment of U.S. 19 in southwest Georgia, and almost $400 million for the remaining 120 miles of U.S. 27.
It would take between 17 and 22 years to complete the GRIP project if it continued at its present pace, Barnes said. But by signing into law the transportation bill, the governor noted that the state will be able to issue bonds to pay for the remaining highway construction and repay the bonds with federal transportation funds that the state receives each year.
"By issuing a conservative number of bonds and continuing our present rate of investment in GRIP, we can finish the job in seven years - 10 years faster than it would otherwise take," Barnes said.
That means more jobs in smaller towns sooner. It also be easier for trucks to reach small towns, which will help bring new businesses. Bring it all together, Barnes said, and consumers will benefit because retailers will become more competitive.
- To contact Randall Savage, call 744-4395 or e-mail rsavage@macontel.com .
http://www.macontelegraph.com/content/macon/2001/05/01/local/roads.htm
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law.
|
