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On Aug. 4, the Atlanta Regional Transportation Roundtable’s executive committee voted to include seven major transit projects worth $3 billion on a list of priority transportation projects for a future funding referendum. In July 2012, voters will decide whether to approve a 10-year, 1-cent sales tax to help fund the projects.

Dealing with a budget of $6.1 billion, the five executive committee members by Aug. 15 must identify road, sidewalk, trail and smaller transit projects worth a total of $3.1 billion to include on the list. The committee then plans to turn over a draft referendum list to the full 21-member roundtable for consideration. By Oct. 15, the roundtable must adopt a full list of transportation projects to include in the referendum.

The transit-rail projects approved by the committee include the:
• Atlanta Beltline streetcar circulator and trail;
• Clifton Corridor rail line;
• Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s state-of-good-repair and enhancement projects;
• Northwest Corridor light-rail line along U.S Highway 41 to the Town Center area; and
• study and planning activities for the Northeast Corridor.

“Real progress was made … in honing the draft referendum project list through targeting several large transit projects we want to pursue,” said Bucky Johnson, the roundtable’s chairman and mayor of Norcross, in a prepared statement.