{"id":1525,"date":"2011-09-10T12:35:24","date_gmt":"2011-09-10T16:35:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/httplaketypepadcomon-the-lake-front20110912m-to-widen-us-41-n-is-more-than-75m-for-a-bus-systemhtml.html"},"modified":"2011-09-10T12:35:24","modified_gmt":"2011-09-10T16:35:24","slug":"httplaketypepadcomon-the-lake-front20110912m-to-widen-us-41-n-is-more-than-75m-for-a-bus-systemhtml","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/09\/httplaketypepadcomon-the-lake-front20110912m-to-widen-us-41-n-is-more-than-75m-for-a-bus-systemhtml.html","title":{"rendered":"$12M to widen US 41 N is more than $7.5M for a bus system"},"content":{"rendered":"There is no public transit in Lowndes County, except for the\ntiny MIDS bus system (I like it, but it’s small).\nMeanwhile,\nthe county proposes to spend more in a new sales tax to widen one road,\n\n$12 million dollars for Old US 41 North<\/a>,\nthan\n\na bus system would cost, $7.5 million.<\/a>\n

\n\n<\/a>\n

\nOne short stretch of road vs. a three-line bus system to connect Wiregrass Tech, Five Points, Downtown,\nMoody, East Side, South Side, West Side, and the Mall.\n

\nRoad and bridge proponents usually mutter that a bus system won’t pay back\nfor years, if ever.\nAnd that’s right: bus systems usually operate at a loss because local\ngovernments subsidize them for the social and economic benefits they bring,\n\nsuch as these:<\/a>\n

\nThis project will provide mobility options for all travelers; improve\naccess to employment; and help mitigate congestion and maximize the use\nof existing infrastructure by promoting high-occupancy travel.\n<\/blockquote>\nEmployment, safety, and less sprawl, all from a bus system.\n

\nWhat road and bridge proponents don’t ever mention is:\n\n\nhow long\nwill it take before that $12 million to widen Old US 41 North from\n2 to five lanes pays back?\nThe answer: decades, if ever.\nBecause that road widening\n\nis to subsidize<\/a>\n

\nthe future plans for further development in this area both commercially\nand residentially\n<\/blockquote>\nThe county has already been subsidizing that sprawl:\n
\nOver the past 15 years with the installation of Lowndes County Water\nand Sewer in this area, nine residential subdivisions, a private K-12\nschool, and numerous commercial developments have developed throughout\nthis corridor.\n<\/blockquote>\nAnd it’s not clear that sprawl like that will ever pay back enough\nin taxes from those businesses and new residents to pay back what\ntaxpayers now would pay to widen that road.\n

\n\n<\/a>\nAs\n\nthe study by UGA Prof. Dorfman the county paid for several years ago says:<\/a>\n

\nsprawling residential growth is a certain ticket to fiscal ruin*\n
\n* Or at least big tax increases.\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nOh, and the price tag for that road widening went up 50% from June to August.\nIt was already higher than the price tag for the bus system before<\/em>\nthe road cost went up by 50%.\nWho are the real beneficiaries for that?\n

\nAnd what are our priorities?\n

\n-jsq\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is no public transit in Lowndes County, except for the tiny MIDS bus system (I like it, but it’s small). Meanwhile, the county proposes to spend more in a new sales tax to widen one road, $12 million dollars for Old US 41 North, than a bus system would cost, $7.5 million. One short […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[40,14,49,2,88,21,22,73,1177,3,449],"tags":[2281,2177,8704,1139,8701,847,7,2127,816,8731,1147,8822,60,2178,8767,6],"class_list":["post-1525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-economy","category-elections","category-government","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-planning","category-politics","category-safety","category-t-splost","category-transparency","category-transportation","tag-bridge","tag-bus","tag-economy","tag-employment","tag-georgia","tag-jobs","tag-lowndes-county","tag-mass-transit","tag-road","tag-safety","tag-sales-tax","tag-t-splost","tag-tax","tag-transit","tag-transportation","tag-valdosta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-oB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}