HOT Lanes on Ga. 400?

Attention all North Fulton taxpayers,

[The Georgia Department of Transportation] held an open house Tuesday evening, March 13 in Roswell, regarding plans for toll lanes on Ga. 400 from I-285 to SR 20. (Yes, that takes a lot of nerve doesn’t it?) How they can expect us to discuss such a topic while they are still stealing our money at the Ga. 400 toll even though we have already paid for that road?

Background:

Currently, there is no end in sight to the Ga. 400 toll, the only mandatory toll road in Georgia. I was in the council chambers around 12 years ago when they passed the Ga. 400 bill and Robb Pitts placed an amendment on the bill to ensure that the tolls would be removed once the tolls finished paying for the road. As many of you know, just before leaving office then Gov., Sonny Perdue, cut a back room deal to extend the toll without citizen or legislature consent. He then sold bonds to raise funds for undisclosed projects based on the promise of more toll revenue. Two years ago, our current state senator, John Albers, ran on the promise to get the tolls removed. Since being elected he has made no progress. A bill, SB97, he sponsored to provide congressional oversight as to where our money is going was so problematic that it was unanimously voted down in committee 7-0, even with the support of the committee chairman. We are no closer today to solving this problem than we have ever been. We are now faced with the prospect of more tolls similar to the I-85 north tolls that have infuriated the people of Gwinnett County none of whom were allowed to participate in the toll installation decision. They now have more traffic congestion resulting from one less free lane and downtown commuters using the toll lane can pay up to a staggering $200 per month in extra taxes.