New Legislation Introduced to Fund Construction

Georgia lawmakers are taking another crack at fixing the state's transportation woes.
State Sen. Jeff Mullis introduced legislation today that would allow local communities to ask residents to impose the sales tax hike for road improvements and construction.
Backers of a 1-cent sales tax to fund transportation in Georgia say it could generate up to $1.2 billion in new money for roads and rail projects around the state.
Republican leaders in the House have said they will push a statewide plan.

(AP)

DOT Chair: "Red tape causes road work delays"

The head of the state Department of Transportation board says red tape is hindering road projects in Georgia. Mike Evans told a transportation committee yesterday that environmental regulations and project development processes are imposing undue costs and delays. He asked regulators to adopt a quote "more reasoned and practical approach." Transportation officials from around the country participated in yesterday’s meeting to address needed reforms to federal transportation policy.

Drought could soon affect state road construction

Georgia's drought could soon put the brakes on road construction across the state. David Spear with the state's Department of Transportation says delays could soon be on the horizon.

"It's approaching a level where you could see some real impact on projects..where they'll have to start delaying things. We're not there yet, but it's on the horizon. Our people are talking to the Governor's folks, and Natural Resources, and our contractors as well".

Road contractors need water for concrete mixing, dust control on projects, and erosion control--which is federally mandated.

"Ideally, from the contractor's perspective, we love when it doesn't rain because it means they can go out and get their work done. We've certainly had more than enough of a good thing in terms of absence of rain for a while. We'd all take a few shut-down construction days if it meant we were going to get some decent rain" said Spear.

The drought problem could add to some recent criticism the GDOT has received. A recent state audit said Georgia is well behind other states in getting road projects to completion.

State DOT responds to audit report

A new state audit says Georgia’s Department of Transportation needs to do a much better job in getting road projects off the planning table to construction.

The report was commissioned by Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson. Among several issues, it points to Georgia taking 22 months longer on average than other states to get projects done.

State DOT spokesman David Spear agrees with the basics of the audit, but says the results are not as grave as they appear. He says the audit used a general survey of other states’ results from four years ago, compared to hard numbers in Georgia from this year.

Spear says the department needs to improve its operation, such as project delivery. Instead of separate contracts for a design and build phase, there could be one contract for both--thus saving potentially 18-24 months on the speed of a project.

However, Spear says a few important factors are out of the department's control.

"We can get better, we need to get better, we will get better...but at the end of the day it still comes back to federal regulations that have to be upheld, and you have a finite pot of money that doesn’t even begin to approach covering the needs that we have".

The state DOT is dealing with a major budget shortfall over the next 30 years. Lawmakers will tackle a host of transportation issues in the next General Assembly.

Audit says state road work takes too long

State auditors have found that when it comes to getting road projects done, Georgia lags well behind other states. The report says other states on average complete the preconstruction phase of road projects, nearly two years more quickly than that of Georgia. Preconstruction signifies the time from when a concept is approved, to when a contract is set to do the work. The audit also revealed that in only 49-percent of the time, the Georgia Department of Transportation delievered projects in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program-in the year they were scheduled to be completed. The audit was requested by Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle, and House Speaker Glenn Richardson.