Area RR project derailed

By Kari L. Sands

May 15, 2008 11:01 pm

— VALDOSTA — More than $17 million in state funding for projects in Senate District 8 is included in the $21 billion fiscal year 2009 budget signed into law Wednesday by Governor Sonny Perdue, and while Sen. Tim Golden is very pleased overall, both he and Mayor John Fretti are disappointed that the money for the railroad switchyard was vetoed.
“As secretary of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I am very pleased that these direct line item expenditures made it through the entire legislative budget process and received final approval by the Governor,” Senator Tim Golden said. “These appropriations will be of significant benefit to the people and communities of Brooks, Cook, Lowndes and Thomas counties.”
Yet the final approvals were disappointing for one Lowndes County project.
The only local budget item approved by the legislature that was not signed by the Governor was a $1 million allocation for rail lines for the St. Augustine Road Rail Switching Yard expansion, part of a $7.7 million statewide veto of bond funding for railroad improvements.
During SPLOST V negotiations, the city began pursuing an underpass or an overpass on St. Augustine Road near Hill Avenue to alleviate the congestion caused by the CSX train switching yard.
During Mayor Fretti’s State of the City Address on Feb. 22, 2007, Fretti asked for the City Council’s support on several projects to improve Metro Valdosta. “The St. Augustine railroad crossing is known to block thousands of cars carrying hard-working citizens to and from work for at least three to four minutes and sometimes 14 minutes or longer,” said Fretti. “Citizens rarely go a day without being blocked as this crossing is adjacent to an extremely busy switch yard, and with the increased prices in fuel, train traffic has increased.”
The City of Valdosta Traffic Division measured the activity at this crossing and determined that nearly 94 percent of the traffic stoppage is due to train switching.
“These complications often encourage people to bypass this crossing by cutting through nearby neighborhoods or less traveled routes, often disrupting normal traffic flow in these areas,” said Fretti during his address.
The original plan was to jump the track crossing with an overpass at a conservative cost of $12 million, with funds already put aside for engineering and design. However, the plan is now to move the switch yard at a cost of $1 million through a different allocation of funds. But after the approval of the Fiscal Year 2009 budget, Mayor Fretti
said, “While I’m understandably disappointed in the veto, we look forward to working with Senator Tim Golden, Senate Transportation Chairman Jeff Mullis and Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Hill on a similar request next year. This project is critical to the Valdosta work force that is being delayed numerous times daily to and from work while at the same time negatively affecting the efficiency and productivity of our industries on the other side of the blocked St. Augustine industrial corridor. In a session that was wrought with failed tax and transportation bills, it seemed unlikely to see special transportation money sent to Valdosta.”
“I am disappointed over this line-item veto because it is a significant project for Valdosta,” Golden said. “But overall, the budget
includes more than $17 million for capital projects and other needs in our
district.”
Specifically for Lowndes County, the allocations for Senate District 8 in the budget legislation (HB 990) included the following:
- $4.075 million for design and construction for the renovation of Nevins Hall to become the math and computer science building at Valdosta State University.
- A total of $215,550 to add one veterans’ benefits counselor position to each of six Veterans Service Offices, including the one in Valdosta. Pete Wheeler, Commissioner of Veterans Services, said, “The demand for services from our field offices and staff is increasing every year.”
- $150,000 in additional funds for a planning grant for the Georgia Wellness Incentive Pilot Program, which will benefit the Lowndes County Partnership for Health.
- $10,000 to the City of Valdosta to assist with a broad scale study to gauge the existence and perception of existence of barriers to people with disabilities in access to public and private buildings and businesses.
In addition to his leadership position on the powerful Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for the state budget, Golden is a senior member of the influential Senate Finance Committee, which handles tax-related legislation. He also serves on the Higher Education, Insurance & Labor and Government Oversight committees and is chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus. Golden is running unopposed for his sixth term in the Senate.