Congress’ discord threatens Ga. highway jobs | www.myajc.com

SAVANNAH — Congress may have avoided a debt default, but Georgia and other states face a “fiscal cliff” on transportation projects if Congress doesn’t act by Sept. 30, 2014. That’s the date when the two-year federal transportation funding bill expires.

Without a new one, there will be no new highway interchanges or road widenings in 2015 to help frustrated commuters get around metro Atlanta, which is perennially among the most traffic-congested cities in America.

The state would not be able to start any design work or buy any right-of-way for future construction in 2015, Joshua Waller, GDOT’s director of government relations, told the state transportation board at a meeting Wednesday.

Considering the stalemate that just occurred in Washington, state officials are increasingly worried that political dysfunction could stymie a transportation bill next year.

“Most people say that will never happen, but we saw what just happened and what’s going on right now,” Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Keith Golden said in a phone interview. “Our job is to make sure they know we need a long-term transportation bill.”

About half of GDOT’s $2.2 billion annual budget is federally funded.

Projects already under construction like the Atlanta Streetcar or the optional toll lanes along I-75 in Henry and Clayton counties would be unaffected because the money to pay for them has been allocated.

“We would be able to sustain active projects that are out there, but we wouldn’t be able to fund any new projects,” said Golden. “It’s a potential disaster for a state that is very dependent on the federal transportation dollar.”

If no bill is passed, money for new construction would become available again in 2016, but it would be reduced from prior levels by about a third.

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