Category Archives: Transportation

$7.5 million T-SPLOST for a bus system

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.

Project Sheet

Continue reading

Energy as a National Security Challenge —Col. Dan Nolan @ Solar Summit

In his morning keynote at the sold-out Southern Solar Summit, Col. Dan Nolan (U.S. Army ret.) asked the musical question:
“When did our Marines become Birkenstock-wearing tree huggers?”
This was after some Marines asked for solar power so they wouldn’t have to haul fuel in long convoys, which were among the most dangerous missions. Most of that fuel was going into very inefficient generators to run very inefficient air conditioners in tents in the desert. Dealing with that got the military thinking about energy security: assured access to mission-critical energy.

Looking up, he asked:

“What is it we as a nation need to understand about our own energy security?”
He identified America’s strategic center of gravity as its economy. It’s very resilient but has vulnerabilities open to attack. So how do we secure those vulnerabilities?

The main vulnerabilities are: Continue reading

$3 million T-SPLOST for sprawl on Cat Creek Road

Three million dollars buried on page 90 of the 171 page T-SPLOST Unconstrained Investment List for the Southern Georgia Region to funnel traffic along Cat Creek Road to Moody Air Force Base, promoting sprawl in far north Lowndes County, in an area the Comprehensive Plan says should be for agriculture and forestry.

In amongst the boilerplate and the red herrings (“potentially reducing the incidence of crashes”, “mitigating congestion”) is the real purpose of this project:

Also as a part of the project, protected left turn lanes will be added at various intersections along Cat Creek Road. The proposed intersections include Pine Grove Road, Radar Site Road, New Bethel Road, and Hambrick Road.
There’s a more long-term reason, too, which is hinted at with this further unnecessary work: Continue reading

Many rural farmers are taking notice of HB 87 —Patrick Davis

Patrick Davis points out from Macon that HB 87 is producing Lowndes County farm employment problems, and maybe local farmers should take that into account when they vote.

Patrick Davis wrote, Rural Republicans in Georgia can’t have it both ways on immigration reform

With the law passed and ready for implementation, many rural farmers—especially in Central and South Georgia—are taking notice to the exodus of migrant workers and immigrants which has left some farmers without workers to pick crops.

Many of these same farmers that are hurting economically and losing crops in these rural counties had voted Republican for years.

Valdosta’s Ellis Black who represents parts of Lowndes County as a state representative helped to pass Gov. Nathan Deal’s conservative and punitive agenda and consequently it has contributed to drive an increasing number of migrant workers out of the Peach State.

Black has continued to justify his HB-87 vote and attempt to support Gov. Deal’s ridiculous assertion in regard to the use of probationers as a solution.

That last link is to Parolees to replace migrants? Gov. Deal says put probationers in fields by David Rodock in the VDT 15 June 2011, which included: Continue reading

$3 million T-SPLOST to widen Val Del Road

In the Lowndes County T-SPLOST boondoggle of the day, the county wants $3 million to widen Val Del Road: all of it that’s in the county, plus adding paved shoulders, and at some intersections turn lanes, plus fiddling with drainage. Nothing in the writeup about promoting new development, although we saw in the proposal for Old US 41 N that that’s exactly what road widening projects are for.

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

Project Sheet

Continue reading

Widening Old US 41 North: It’s Back, for $8 million T-SPLOST!

Lowndes County wants $8 million T-SPLOST to widen Old US 41 North from North Valdosta Road to Union Road, and the map shows the entire road to the center of Hahira as part of the plan.

Back in 2009, a local citizens group called car41no managed to fight off widening Old US 41 North all the way into Hahira, at least temporarily. Well, it’s back! This time, instead of asking for general GDOT money, Lowndes County is asking for funds from the proposed T-SPLOST one cent sales tax.

What is in the plan for old US 41 North between Union Road and Hahira?

It is proposed to construct bike lanes and possibly sidewalks throughout the project for the residents of this area to use.
I suspect “construct bike lanes” means paint lines on the pavement, and note that sidewalks are just “possibly”.

So what is this plan really for? Continue reading

$10 million T-SPLOST to widen New Bethel Road for Lanier County sprawl?

Lowndes County wants $10 million dollars in T-SPLOST funds to widen New Bethel Road from 2 to 5 lanes, even though Bemiss Road (GA-125) is right next to it and also connects to GA 122.

That $10 million might save Lanier County residents about one minute getting to Lowndes County to spend their money, while promoting more sprawl of developments into Lanier County.

It would cost a lot less to put a four-way stop or a light at Walker’s Crossing where GA-122 and GA-125 meet.

The details of this $10 million boondoggle are appended below, extracted from this 171 page PDF.

-jsq

Project Sheet

Continue reading

Ashley Paulk, Corey Hull, and Norman Bennett on T-SPLOST

Jane Osborn pointed us at a detailed list of T-SPLOST projects.

T-SPLOST regional executive committee chairman Ashley Paulk gave his opinion on T-SPLOST at a Lowndes County Democratic Party (LCDP) meeting a few months ago: He’s against it because he doesn’t like a law with a stick in it.

At the same LCDP meeting, Corey Hull of VLMPO explained T-SPLOST, which LAKE videoed in six parts,

  1. T-SPLOST Explained
  2. T-SPLOST Business plan
  3. T-SPLOST Project Lists
  4. T-SPLOST Penalties and LMIG
  5. T-SPLOST Projects to GDOT
  6. T-SPLOST referendum in 2012

Before that, Corey Hull explained T-SPLOST to VLCIA, and got a very interesting question about penalties from Norman Bennett.

VLMPO held an extended public participation period for T-SPLOST in May. Maybe some of you who went can report back on that.

-jsq

T-SPLOST Projects for Southern Georgia Region

This came in yesterday. -jsq
From: “Jane Osborn”
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:32:19 -0400

Have you seen these proposed projects for our region if the transportation tax is passed? A few meetings have been held in local cities, mostly attended by elected officials with Ashley Paulk as the chair of our committee. Committee members are listed and projects proposed for each county in the region are outlined in great detail.

PDF

Jane F. Osborn, MSSW
Valdosta, GA
229-630-0924 cell