NOTE: Turn back all ye who enter. This wall of text has no train of thought and is only one man's opinion. Read at your own peril. I do welcome any discussion though. Really curious what redditors think about GA 400

So, I'm really torn on the whole toll thing. A central part of Deal's election campaign was the promise to remove the tolls. As a population, we were already lied to. The toll was initially created by the State Road and Tollway Authority to pay for the bonds that were taken out for the extension of GA 400. Those bonds were set to be paid off in 2011 (The date everyone knows about). In fact, they could not be paid off early, even if the SRTA had the money to do so.

This even happened. The SRTA said they had the money to pay off the remaining bonds; however, Gov. Perdue and the SRTA agreed to push the stoppage of the toll to 2020 (mainly because they relied too much on the money that the toll brought in to cease it's existence). It's also worth noting that the current Governor is also the chair of the SRTA board.

The toll sees around 120,000 cars per day. The average weekday revenue collected at the toll plaza on GA 400 is approximately $59,000.00 per day. According to the SRTA's stats, around 41% of the toll users per day are using the Peach Pass card. Here's a really interesting link to an 11Alive article on how much the tolls are costing They started really pushing Deal when he was backtracking on his promise to end the tolls (instead saying it would take at least until 2017). After the pressure he saw, I bet it really caused him to figure out how to balance the sheets and close the toll.

This is where it gets really shady for me. It's like they were trying to cover for the fact that they did a shit job at accounting and balancing their books. I guess you never ask a politician if they want more money or less money though. Anyway, they claimed they had too many outstanding projects that needed to be completed. As of that times, this is a list of those projects:

• New ramps that connect GA400 and I-85 so motorists no longer need to travel on local surface streets, saving 4 to 7 minutes of travel time

• Improving the GA400 southbound to I-85 southbound merge so GA400 has a dedicated lane in I-85

• Widening GA400 from McFarland Rd. to SR20 with a third general purpose lane

• Extend the third northbound lane approximately ¾ miles to enhance the transition from the existing four lanes to two lanes near McFarland Rd that extend to SR20 in Forsyth County

• Extend the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) and Highway Emergency Response Order (HERO) north from McFarland Rd to SR20 by providing video detection and ramp metering to more effectively manage congestion and reduce the impact of incidences along GA400

• Install ITS from Barnwell Rd on SR140/Holcomb Bridge Rd to SR9/Alpharetta Street, utilizing existing Active Traffic Management System devices to optimize costs and coordinate with the existing City of Roswell traffic infrastructure

• Construct a triple left turn lane for the Mansell Road corridor between the GA400 northbound exit ramp (Exit 8) and the North Point Parkway intersection with Mansell Rd to accommodate planned growth from the current 18,650 cars per day to the projected 59,700 cars per day in 2034

• Continue funding the GRTA Xpress service from Forsyth County to the North Springs MARTA rail station near Perimeter Center and direct service to Downtown Atlanta from Cumming

• Reconstruct the ramp from westbound Abernathy to northbound GA400 to allow motorists additional time and distance to merge onto GA400

• Increase capacity and make operational improvements to the three intersections that directly tie into the Northridge Road intersection at GA400, which are Northridge Road at Dunwoody Place, Roberts Drive and Somerset Court, and Roberts Drive and Dunwoody Place, and add a traffic roundabout at Somerset Court to the east

• Initiate Preliminary Engineering (PE) of managed lanes between I-285 and McFarland Road.

If I'm reading this list correct, almost all of these items have already been completed or are in the process of being completed currently (i.e. work has already broken ground). The cost estimated to complete the I-85 to 400 work was around $40 million. It was bid on and accepted at $21 million. I'm curious if that extra bit is how they were able to push ahead with a closing date of Nov. 23. Apparently, it's not set in stone either. The timing on the toll lifting could change depending on the weather. SRTA officials originally thought to lift the toll the following weekend, but changed plans in order not to run into Thanksgiving shopping traffic around the Lenox and Phipps malls. This is a picture of the plan during demolition

So the question still remains on what exactly they did (at least to me). If you are able to close the toll earlier than 2017, but you didn't give up on any of the projects (including the ones north of the Perimeter, which shouldn't have even been bid on in the first place) then where is the money coming from? It sounds like they could have done it all along, but wanted to string along everyone for the extra cash up until 2017 (with Deal blaming it on not being able to break contracts, ect. so his hands are tied and he can conveniently blame it on his predecessor). They got called on it and are now moving money around. This is why I have a problem with our local government. It's like we can't trust them with a dime. Just be transparent about your goals and make it happen. Anyway, there is still a cost to maintain the roads. (According to a wikipedia article on GA 400, that number is around $2 million per year plus occasional repaving). It's got to come from somewhere. Our taxes are a part of it, but why not try and supplement it somehow? That's what they do with the express lanes. As bad as the government can be with screwing up, Atlanta drivers and residents are equally as bad in the sense that we are complete babies about spending a dime. Our toll is so small compared to other states that have both far more tolls than us as well as more expensive tolls. Tolls are a great way to help pay for road improvements so that it is not all subsidized from taxes (including the taxes of people that never drive on GA 400).

The GDOT did a study looking at the feasibility of adding an express lane to GA 400 in lieu of the tolls. It has also been proposed that they leave the current infrastructure up and allow people to pass through for free (considering that demolition would be over $4 million).

My ideal proposal would be a split. I don't like the idea of an express lane; however, what if we kept the current infrastructure up (removing the need to pay for a toll when you arrive, but requiring you to stop, wait for the bar to raise, and then move on [which, in my opinion would allow merging back into the lanes to be as accident-free as it currently is]). The flip side to this is that the two left lanes continue to be operated by the Peach Pass. Let's say that to use them, it's a $.25 cost per use instead of $.50 cost per use (for most cars). If you take the toll twice a day for 5 days a week, you are looking at around $130/yr. I think this is extremely manageable. Now you start to get into guesswork, but as mentioned earlier, if 41% of all toll users are currently using their Peach Pass, I would bet a majority would continue to use it at a measly $.25 per use to avoid the lines that would appear to the right. You are appeasing to a large majority of people though by completely removing the tolls. Now you are able to continue to fund projects, but appease the promise that you set out. Additionally, I would imagine that you would be able to cover the annual cost of operations with the tiny $.25 fee. You wouldn't have as much payroll with having to pay operators. I'm sure the money made from the $.25 fee would cover the cost of keeping the toll booth up and operational (land lease, payroll, ect. the net cost gained from not paying the $4 million in demolition). I'm curious how cost-effective the express lanes have been. I mean, if you take the 2 million for road maintenance away and put that on taxes, think about what you could do with the revenu from the $.25 optional toll. Apply that towards transit or extending heavy rail into the northern suburbs (We've had several meeting about that up here). Frankly, it would be nice to see some government subsidy into transit in Atlanta. I want to host the damn World Cup final here when the U.S. wins the bid in 2026. Let's make this place rocking before then, eh? Anyway, that's my rant/idea. Anyone else have anything to add?

TL;DR

Remember, Remember, the 23rd of November.

GA 400, a new parking lot.

I see no reason, when tolls were not treason

Should ever be forgot...