GWINNETT COUNTY, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
With six weeks remaining until voters decide whether to approve a 10-year, 1-cent sales tax for transportation projects, leaders in Gwinnett County say two projects are at the center of what they hope to see accomplished. Relief on Highway 316, and an extension to Sugarloaf Parkway, would affect tens of thousands of people each day, said Norcross Mayor Bucky Johnson.
"In my opinion, this is the biggest thing to happen to Atlanta in my lifetime," said Johnson, who served on the regional roundtable that decided which projects would make the list. "I'm not downplaying the fact that it's a tax, but we've got such need in the area, and we've got such tremendous growth."
There are already two overpass additions in the works for Highway 316 to replace intersections where there are currently traffic lights. The project list on the Transit Investment Act calls for three additional overpasses at Hi Hope Road and Cedars Road, Harbins Road and U.S. Highway 29. The overpasses, along with on/off ramps, would allow cars to continue traveling at 60 mph through areas where they currently have to stop at red lights. The cost of adding overpasses at all three intersections would equal nearly $136 million.
That's not even half of what it will take to extend Sugarloaf Parkway to Buford. The estimated cost for that project is $296 million, and would add 8 1/2 miles from the area near Briscoe Field at Highway 316 north to the city limit of Buford.
"You have to think more regionally in terms of how you plan and how you progress as a region," said Johnson, who added that the two main Gwinnett County projects affect a huge portion of the county's regularly commuting population.
Harris Blackwood, the director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, said the projects mean equally as much to safety as they do to helping people spend less time in traffic.
"Any place you have a major highway that has stop signs on it (like Highway 316), it adds some degree of uncertainty about it," said Blackwood.
"We've had tremendous growth, and no growth in infrastructure-type taxes," said Johnson. "I understand the issue with taxes, but someone has to pay for this, and everybody wants someone else to pay for it."
CBS Atlanta will have reaction from proponents and opponents of the Transportation Investment Act on Wednesday afternoon.
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