TSPLOST: Major Projects Impacting Buckhead

Atlanta residents are being asked to vote July 31 on a referendum that will fund $8.5 billion in transportation improvements through a regional ten-year, one-percent sales tax. With the sheer amount of projects being discussed concerning the Regional Transportation Referendum (157 regional projects and many more local projects), trying to sort through them all and figure out which ones will have the biggest impact on you can be overwhelming. 

Below is a look at the Final Investment List Projects that will be built in Buckhead should the pass. These projects, approved on Oct. 13, 2011, were selected by the Atlanta Regional Transportation Investment Act (TIA) Roundtable, are not subject to change and are being funded by 85-percent of the regional revenue that will be collected during the ten-year period.

The City of Atlanta, as well as 20 other regional jurisdictions, was represented on the roundtable and over 200,000 members of the public participated in the development of this list. 

Piedmont Road/ Roswell Road between the City Limits and Lindbergh MARTA Station:

Bus rapid transit and road improvements will improve the accessibility, availability and reliability of transit service along Piedmont and Roswell Roads. The focus of the project lies between the and the city limits and will also address key congestion points and reduce delay for all modes of transportation traveling along the corridor. 

The project includes bus rapid transit (BRT) and pedestrian improvements along the entire corridor, a limited scope multimodal widening of Piedmont Road between Lindbergh Drive and Miami Circle, multimodal intersection improvements at Piedmont Road and Darlington Road / East Wesley Road, lane conversions on Piedmont Road between Miami Circle and Pharr Road, a limited scope multimodal widening of Piedmont Road between Pharr Road and Peachtree Road, multimodal intersection improvements at Piedmont Road and Tower Place Drive, and assorted signal and operational improvements.

The total cost of the project is $50,000,000, which will be entirely funded under the TIA.

Buford Highway from Lenox Road to Shallowford Terrace: 

Pedestrian, landscape and BRT improvements will expand the limits of the current streetscape projects along Buford Highway and eliminate the the sidewalk/streetscape gap between Afton Road and Shallowford Terrace. 

Design features may include raised medians, sidewalks, landscaping, enhanced pedestrian crossings, pedestrian scale street lighting, improved traffic signals (new equipment, retiming, intelligent systems) and other traditional streetscape elements.

The primary focus will be to improve and encourage transit use by improving pedestrian safety and accessibility. Improvements related to BRT will be considered based on the results of the traffic analysis.

The total amount of TIA funding committed to advance the scope of this project is $12,000,000.

Other projects on the Final Investment List:

Three other projects on the final investment list that will impact Buckhead are similar in scope and the type of improvements that will be made. 

Northside Drive from West Paces Ferry Road to Whitehall Street: The total cost of this project is $525,325, which will be entirely funded under TIA.

Peachtree Road from Peachtree Dunwoody Road to Collier Road: The total cost of the project is $1,713,450, which will be entirely funded under TIA.

Piedmont Road/Ave. from Roswell Road to Edgewood Ave.: The total cost of the project is $612,000, which will be entirely funded under the TIA.

Each of these traffic improvement projects will include traffic signal coordination, modernization, and observation and associated traffic studies, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) improvements, milling and resurfacing, pavement markings, signage and street lights, as appropriate. 

The remaining 15-percent of money collected through TSPLOST will be considered local discretionary revenue, which is being split in Atlanta between high-priority projects, Livable Center Initiative Projects and Neighborhood Projects. Tomorrow, Buckhead Patch will provide a detailed look at these projects.