News - Breaking News
Gov. Perdue Announces Local Transportation Funding Initiative
posted January 5, 2006
Gov. Sonny Perdue announces the state's Paving the Way Home local
transportation funding initiative.
Governor Sonny Perdue announced on Thursday, January 5 details of "Paving the
Way Home", a historic transportation funding initiative under which Georgia's
cities and counties will receive funds for high priority local transportation
improvements. Governor Perdue's budget recommendation includes a record $234
million over two years for Paving the Way Home.
"One of Georgia's greatest assets is its transportation infrastructure", said
Governor Sonny Perdue. "We're investing a record amount of funding for local
transportation projects, which will positively affect citizens' quality of life
and Georgia's ability to attract new business to the state."
Paving the Way Home's $234 million budget is spread over two years - $117
million in the FY06 amended budget and $117 million in the FY07 budget.
"The Governor knows that no matter how Georgians get to work, it is a local
road that gets you home," said GMA President Tom Ratcliffe, "and this
much-needed influx of funds to improve those local arteries is welcome news to
city officials statewide."
The $234 million includes $120 million ($60 million each year) for the Local
Assistance Road Program (LARP). LARP funds will be used for resurfacing and
deep patching projects, significantly reducing the time and resources local
governments will have time to spend to prepare roads for repaving. Through
Paving the Way Home, FY06 funding for LARP is increased by 58 percent over
funding in FY05 (LARP was funded at $38 million in FY05).
Paving the Way Home also includes $68 million ($34 million in each year) for
Off System and $46 million ($23 million in each year) for Most Needed programs.
The Off System and Most Needed programs, known as State Aid, support a wide
variety of projects including paving dirt roads, intersection improvements,
resurfacing and reconstruction. The Paving the Way Home initiative marks an
increase of more than 900 percent in funding for State Aid over the $6.1
million allocated in FY05.
Each year Georgia's cities and counties prioritize their transportation
improvement needs and submit a list to the Georgia Department of Transportation
(GDOT) to determine how much funding they will receive under LARP and State
Aid. The list of projects funded under the Paving the Way Home initiative will
be announced in the next several weeks.
There are approximately 117,000 miles of state and local roads across Georgia.
Local roads account for nearly 84 percent of the state's entire road system
totaling approximately 99,000 miles. An estimated 29,000 miles of local roads
are unpaved and approximately 50 percent of the paved local roads (35,000
miles) are in need of repair or repaving. Many local governments cannot afford
the cost of upgrading or maintaining their roads.
The Paving the Way Home initiative will be funded with motor fuel tax
collections. The FY05 motor fuel tax collection was $60 million higher than
estimated, partially due to the increase in fuel prices in the aftermath of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The total motor fuel tax collected in FY05 was
$850.9 million. Motor fuel collections are estimated at $809 million in FY07.
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