Argument Essay: Transportation in Atlanta

Introduction

Like many other thickly populated cities of the World, Atlanta has been facing serious transportation issues for the period of last few years. General public as well as business leaders claim that traffic congestion is one of the major hindrances in the city for their progress. One of the major reasons behind the transit infrastructure degradation is lack of balance between the investment in this regard and the growing population. Also, the lack of funding has remained a serious issue while planning and implementing a rehabilitation plan for transit infrastructure of Atlanta. There is a need for the government to take the transport challenges seriously and work on efficient financial management plan and realistic infrastructure development for the Atlantic transit system

Discussion

The transport issues in the city of Atlanta have become one of the serious over the period of past few years. Nearly 1.2 million people pour on the roads of Atlanta everyday in order to reach their work places, educational institutes, markets or entertainment spots (Suggs, 2012). This increase in population has clearly resulted in the increase of transport issues; currently Atlanta stands at 4th worst position in the country, from the perspective of transit issues (Metro Atlanta, p.1, 2012).

The city has been facing transport issues and challenges mainly due to the ever increasing population in the state Georgia, and insufficient investment for transit infrastructure. In the last 10 years, Georgia has been 4th fastest growing state; the population has been growing two times faster as compared to the national average (Metro Atlanta, p.1, 2012). With the growth of the State, the metropolitan city Atlanta grows 2.5 times faster as the average growth rate of country. However, despite of being fourth largest growing state in the country, the rate of investment for new infrastructure in the state is fourth lowest; very low investments are made for the projects of new roads and transit systems. The number of vehicles and drivers has been increased up to 60% as compared to the past decade, while the travel capacity in the city has also been increased by 16%. As a result of this imbalance between investment and population growth rates, the people have to face an increased traffic delay of 76 percent. Atlanta lies at the centre of the traffic grid. As a part of current transit infrastructure, two major railroad networks and three major interstates converge. The ...