The federal government is on a once-in-a-generation spending binge in the wake of the passage last year of the Congressional Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and metro Atlanta officials met recently to find out how they can get their portion of the $1.2 trillion.
With billions of dollars coming to Georgia for road and bridge projects, public transportation, ports, airports and other infrastructure, several hundred state and local government and business leaders attended a conference Aug. 23 at Georgia Tech to see how they, too, can get in on the action.
Apparently, not a lot of arm-twisting is needed as the federal officials in attendance are more than willing to help distribute funds, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"We've got highways that are congested and greenhouse gas emissions that continue to grow," Nuria Fernandez, administrator of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), told the conference. "These are not new problems. What we have now are new opportunities to address them."
Atlanta Has Gotten Fraction of What is To Come
Metro Atlanta already has received a taste of the new infrastructure spending. Earlier this year the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) allotted $45 million for a variety of projects, including new buses for MARTA, sidewalks and curb cuts for Cobb County, and planning funds for road work in Barrow and Henry counties.
But that is a fraction of what is to come, the Atlanta news source reported.
Georgia will get $8.9 billion for highway construction and $1.4 billion for public transportation over five years. In addition, the state will receive hundreds of millions more for work to include building electric vehicle charging stations, water-cleaning efforts and broadband internet expansion.
The Peach State could get even more through competitive grant programs; for example, MARTA recently received $19.3 million for electric buses and related equipment.
"It's difficult to overstate the significance of this [federal] legislation," explained Anna Roach, executive director of ARC, which sponsored the conference. "Who knows if we'll see another investment like this in our lifetimes."
There is certainly no shortage of projects that could benefit from the law. Fernandez cited MARTA's plans for the Southlake bus rapid transit line in Clayton County as well as its planned $200 million renovation of the Five Points station.
Local officials are eager for the investment. Matthew Lee, executive director of the Tucker-Northlake Community Improvement District, believes metro Atlanta will be able to get its share of federal funding if the leaders speak with one voice.
"We're moving away from operating in silos and becoming more unified," he told the Journal-Constitution.
