Inching Atlanta Forward?

We were disheartened, but not surprised, to read the City Auditor's Office review of the Moving Atlanta Forward (MAF) infrastructure package, which found that only $47 million, less than 10 percent of the $460 approved by Atlanta voters in 2022 for transportation projects, had been spent as of August 2024.

MAF represented a big step forward for sidewalks and safe streets, investing $196.5 million for sidewalks and trails, $108 million in safe streets projects and protected bike lanes, and $32 million in street repairs. It was funded by a combination of bonds and a renewal of a Transportation Special Option Local Sales Tax (TSPLOST).

Unfortunately, no sidewalk or Safe Streets projects are complete yet, and few have made substantial progress almost three years into the program. To compound the issue, the audit found that the least amount of funds were spent in council districts with the highest poverty rates. This outcome flies in the face of the Department's stated commitment to equity. (We define equity as a just outcome that allows everyone to thrive and share in a prosperous, inclusive society).  

For us, this report gives a sense of deja vu – these are the same sinkholes that swallowed prior infrastructure initiatives, Renew Atlanta and TSPLOST 1.0. All have fallen short due to a lack of project managers, prioritization, accountable leadership, and adherence to process. Procurement delays add to the challenges.  

The Atlanta Department of Transportation has 18 project manager positions, but seven are vacant. As a result, many project managers carry workloads of 2-3 times what they should. When project managers have too many projects, nothing moves quickly. As the audit pointed out, “...once a project manager is working concurrently on four projects, their value-added time diminishes to less than 50 percent as more time is dedicated to administrative tasks and ‘catching up to speed.’” To advance Moving Atlanta Forward efficiently, each manager should have two projects.

We agree with the auditor’s recommendations: to create systems to ensure documentation, tracking, prioritization, and accountability. Since voters approved all of these initiatives based on a reasonable expectation that the projects would be delivered, Atlantans need to hold the administration and ATLDOT accountable not just for MAF program milestones, but for the long overdue projects in Renew Atlanta as well.

We also urge the administration to allocate the necessary personnel resources in this year's operating budget to help Moving Atlanta Forward catch up to where it should already be.

In light of the challenges in delivering these funded projects, we believe Councilmembers should refrain from requesting new projects until existing ones (Renew Atlanta, TSPLOST 1.0, Moving Atlanta Forward including Council discretionary funds and $10M in traffic calming) are complete. Atlanta City Council should also continue to hold ATLDOT staff and leadership accountable for funded project delivery in your districts and throughout the city. 

Atlanta deserves nothing less than 100 percent delivery of these voter-approved programs.

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