As we celebrate National Infrastructure Week, the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Transportation Investment Act program reaches the midway point for fund collection and project delivery. In 2012, voters in three regions – River Valley, Central Savannah River Area and the Heart of Georgia Altamaha – approved a 10-year one percent sales tax to fund regional and local transportation improvements. TIA is now in the fifth year of a ten-year program and has accelerated and delivered 432 projects – over 50 percent of the approved list – with 75 more under construction.

“The TIA program has had a major influence on the sustainability and safety of our state’s rural infrastructure and provides an incredible opportunity for communities and local representatives to choose how their own tax revenue is spent,” said Kenneth Franks, State TIA Administrator. “Whether it’s completing an overpass that allows emergency personnel to respond without waiting 20 minutes for a train to pass, or creating access to real estate that will become an industrial park whose tax proceeds will provide over $400,000 to support local schools, TIA has helped communities attain the transportation projects they need to accomplish their goals regardless of broader nationwide funding concerns.”

TIA supports state and local goals by delivering a large percentage of the program that is on the state and federal roadway system. Of the revenue collected, 75 percent is used for construction of approved projects in each region, while the remaining 25 percent is disbursed to the region’s governments for discretionary use on other local transportation related efforts. So far, nearly $180 million has been redistributed to local communities. Band One projects were delivered $21.3 million under the estimated budget.

Georgia Tech conducted a study of the impact the TIA program has had on the three regions that approved it in 2012 – 94.1 percent of respondents said they would recommend TIA to a region that had not originally passed it, and 92.4 percent said TIA was a good thing for their region.

As the TIA program completes the remaining five years of the planned infrastructure improvement projects across the three regions, communities will be able to plan growth around the projects their local representatives selected.