Rockdale Citizen

Photo by Shawn Wheat

CONYERS -- The Atlanta Regional Roundtable on Transportation will host an information session next week for city of Conyers and Rockdale County elected officials to provide an update on the regional transportation project list.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m., Tuesday, July 19, at the J.P. Carr Community Room, located at 981 Taylor St. in Conyers. The meeting will be lead by Kathryn Lawler, Atlanta Regional Commission external affairs manager, to "help facilitate the panel discussion and answer questions," according to county officials.

The public is invited to attend the meeting.

The Transportation Investment Act approved by the Georgia General Assembly in 2010 began the process to identify a list of regional transportation projects that voters will decide on during a ballot referendum on July 31, 2012.

The referendum proposes the projects to be funded by a 1 percent sales tax across the 10 counties that make up the Atlanta region. The state is divided into 12 regions, or special districts, each with a roundtable organized to develop their own project lists.

Rockdale County Commission Chairman Richard Oden and Conyers Mayor Randy Mills serve on the Roundtable, along with the county chairman and a mayor from each of the 10 Atlanta area counties.

In a joint letter sent to elected officials, Oden and Mills ask for input.

"In order to develop the best project list for the region, we need your input," the men wrote. "While the law only allows for a 21-member roundtable, the input of elected officials in the region is critical. We would like your thoughts on what kind of transportation improvements are important to the communities you represent, and how these improvements can enhance quality of life, create jobs and relieve congestion."

Last week, Roundtable members received a draft of a unconstrained list of projects, developed with the help of local and regional staff planners, which is a first pass at prioritizing the $22.9 billion list of transportation projects in order to reduce it to half its current size.

The Roundtable must narrow down the final list of projects to a total of $6.1 billion that can be considered a realistic list to fund and complete within 10 years.

For more information, go to www.atlantaregionalroundtable.com.