ATLANTA’S NEW TRANSPORTATION PLAN FOCUSES ON SAFETY, MOBILITY AND AFFORDABILITY
By Lisa R. Schoolcraft
City of Atlanta officials face a dilemma: how to accommodate a projected 1.3 million residents and 1.2 million jobs in the years ahead by reducing congestion, improving access and supporting economic growth.
Some of the solutions are laid out in the recent Atlanta Transportation Plan, approved by Atlanta City Council on December 3, 2018. The need for those solutions is great since the plan found Atlantans love their cars.
Compared to peer cities like Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, Atlantans drive more and use walking, biking and transit less. About 69 percent of Atlantans commute alone, with 31 percent using other modes of transit.
In Chicago and Seattle, solo drivers versus commuters who use transit are split 50/50. Solo commuters in Washington, D.C., make up just 34 percent, with the remaining 66 percent using other modes of transit.
The Atlanta Transportation Plan centers around three themes: safety, mobility and affordability, says Jacob Tzegaegbe, senior transportation policy advisor for the City of Atlanta.
“Those are the principles that are grounded in how we want to move forward,” he says. “We want a safer transportation network. We want affordability. We know that for most families, the biggest cost is their home and second is transportation issues. And we want mobility. That’s a core principle of the plan. When we think about mobility, we think about multi-modal: bicycles and walking and something that is coming on the back end of the plan, e-scooters.” READ MORE
