Georgia’s new Department of Transportation Commissioner Gena Abraham isn’t wasting any time getting her house in order. She’s taking aim at the state’s public-private toll road initiative. With her agency billions of dollars over budget and facing numerous lawsuits, state DOT commissioner says all bets are off for the agency’s pending construction projects as the agency reassesses its priorities. DOT spokesman David Spear says the agency must do a better job evaluating proposals from private groups seeking to invest in toll roads: “We’ve got to have the policy in place to address it in a comprehensive way as well as the personnel to help us do that.” The DOT plans to fully review all public-private toll road proposals, and recruit staff with the expertise needed to make more informed decisions. For now, that means multimillion dollar proposals for toll lanes on I-75, I-575 and others are on hold.
