Atlanta Seeks Public Input on Transportation Improvement Plan Amendment

The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), the planning agency for the 11-county Atlanta region, is seeking public comment through Friday on an amendment to its regional transportation improvement plan (TIP).

The plan is updated several times throughout the year and is required to receive federal, state and local funds for major surface transportation projects and programs.

The amendment would allocate $265 million for transportation projects, including $38.2 million in congressionally directed spending grants and $221.6 million in federal discretionary grants.

The update is necessary to incorporate new discretionary funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation and grants from Congress.

The projects included in the plan are:

The Stitch, a project to build a park-like “cap” on part of Atlanta’s Downtown Connector, has received more than $150 million in grants for preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition and some construction.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded the Flint River Gateway Trails project two Community and Neighborhood Reconnection grants totaling $65 million for a planned 31-mile multi-use trail network.

Gwinnett County Transit’s Route 50 received $2.55 million in congressionally directed spending grants to improve transit vehicles and customer amenities.

The ARC board of directors and the transportation and air quality committee will vote on the amendment at a joint meeting on August 28.