Elected officials need to know a lot of stuff in order to be effective or least be informed enough to ask the right questions. Today I spent the morning meeting with the Georgia Department of Transportation, learning what changes are taking place in the various road and traffic funding mechanisms provided by the State.
There are a number of transportation projects that are currently in the works for Dunwoody and I also wanted to verify with the District Traffic Engineer their status as well as confirm what the City of Dunwoody needs to do for the next round of grant proposals which are due very soon.
My initial priority is to submit our LARP list to the State. LARP stands for Local Assistance Road Program which is a resurfacing program designed to help local governments preserve the integrity of their paved road systems.
Each year, during late summer or early fall, every city and county in the state of Georgia is asked to submit a LARP priority list to the Georgia DOT. The LARP priority list identifies roads or streets in each city or county jurisdiction which need to be resurfaced. Georgia DOT reviews each road and street submitted and develops a needs assessment and cost estimate. Funding for LARP projects comes from the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax. Each year Georgia DOT reviews the lists of projects received from each local government and makes selections based on need and availability of funds once the level of funding is established.
As the Chairman of the Transportation Task Force of the Citizens for Dunwoody Committee, I feel it is my responsibility to ensure that the new City of Dunwoody doesn't miss out on this funding opportunity offered by the state. Therefore I will ensure that Mayor Ken Wright reviews my committees report and is provided a list of ranked road improvements which were based on need and location (no, my street isn't one of them). Once the list is vetted by the Mayor and reviewed against the financial constraints of starting the city, our list will be submitted to the State.
The other acronyms listed below are all local funding mechanisms for transportation improvements and it is my plan to squeeze every matching fund dollar we can find in order to maximize the real value of our tax revenues.
CMAQ -Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program
SRTS - Safe Routes to School (Bike lanes & sidewalk improvements.)
Gateway - Special Landscape grants to beautify the Gateway entrances to cities.
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