Deal Unveils Transportation Priorities

Press Release

Republican nominee for governor Nathan Deal today releases his transportation plan, Real Mobility.

"Traffic congestion in our state costs us huge sums of money in lost production, idling cars and pollution - not to mention what it does to our individual quality of life," said Deal. "Our traffic woes pose one of the greatest threats to our economic expansion. Businesses need to know that their work forces can get to work in a timely and reliable manner. We don't always have that. Encouraging investment in new transportation infrastructure will be a major focus of the Deal administration."

Deal's Real Mobility Plan advocates:

* The regional transportation plan passed by the General Assembly last year.

* Transitioning debt service away from the Georgia Department of Transportation and dedicating all of the motor fuel tax revenues to transportation projects.

* Public-private partnerships that allow the state to expand infrastructure even during austere budget years, such as those we continue to face.

* Shrinking the size of state government by consolidating transportation agencies - some of which have overlapping or contradictory purposes. As governor, Roy Barnes created new transportation bureaucracy in an attempt to consolidate his power.

* High Occupancy Toll lanes for NEW construction to give commuters greater choice and to expand capacity.

* A state commitment to deepening the Port of Savannah in anticipation of the widening of the Panama Canal and improvements to infrastructure in Southeast Georgia to accommodate the increase in cargo.

* Greater east-west connectivity to supplement our strong north-south corridors. The state needs to find routes, east to west, south of metro Atlanta that will divert some of 100,000 tractor-trailers on clogged Atlanta highways.

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