What costs less than

$10 million to widen New Bethel Road from 2 to five lanes
and less than

$8 million to widen Old US 41 North?
The answer is $7.5 million for a Valdosta Urbanized Area Transit System

…including the creation and maintainance of a Public Transit System in the City
of Valdosta and Greater Valdosta-Lowndes County.

What would be the benefits?

This project will provide mobility options for all travelers; improve
access to employment; and help mitigate congestion and maximize the use
of existing infrastructure by promoting high-occupancy travel.

And that’s the entire description for this project.
Nothing about promoting sprawl.
Would actually promote dense close-in development.
Can’t be very important, then, right?

Not when the sprawl plans for

Val Del Road
and

Cat Creek Road
add up to $6 million, or almost enough for the entire bus system.

Last time the transit system was being considered by the county,
I was asked by a prominent local politican, “would you ride it?”
Not every day.
But more often than I would drive on the $10 million five lane New Bethel Road.

If you’re interested in a potential bus system, here is
a lot more information about it.

Here’s what Lowndes County submitted for
T-SPLOST funding, extracted from the
171 page PDF.

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