Category Archives: Travel

Valdosta Urbanized Area

vldurbanarea.jpg Another interesting thing from the Valdosta Transit Public Information Meeting was I was reminded of the Valdosta Urbanized Area. As you can see by the map, it extends all the way up Bemiss Road through Moody Air Force Base into Berrien County. This came up in the context of bus lines. Valdosta can run a bus to Moody, because Moody is in the Valdosta Urbanized Area.

In a larger context, local public officials often wonder aloud how they can keep landowners from selling out and developers from developing all over the county. Well, they can’t actually prevent that. (Except they already have in the Moody Exclusion Zone immediately around the AFB, but that’s not the point; in general they can’t.) But they can encourage developers not to go for cheap land way out on the edges of the county, and instead buy land near existing services (water, wastewater, busses, etc.). Cheap hookups, expedited permits, encouragement by local municipalities; these things can all help steer development.

Lowndes County and the city of Valdosta could even designate a Preferred Development Corridor and steer development there. It already exists: Valdosta up Bemiss Road towards Moody, plus the area in and around Valdosta, especially along I-75. What’s missing is official and unofficial encouragement for developers to develop there.

In addition, I keep hearing people saying there’s no farming left in Lowndes County. That’s just not true. It’s not like it was 50 years ago, sure, but there are people actively farming, and even seeking new land to rent. South Carolina promotes farming as its growth business. Lowndes County is big enough to promote both industry and farming.

Valdosta Transit Implementation Plan

Transit-Needs-Map.png A couple of weeks ago (Wednesday, Jan 7th, 2009), I went to a public meeting on a Transit Implementation Plan for the Valdosta Urbanized Area. Basically, where should the proposed Valdosta bus system run? This is part of the Valdosta Transportation Master Plan.

It was quite interesting that there was such a meeting, at which the various organizers (SGRDC, MPO, and the consultant) actively solicited input from the attendees, in both ad hoc and organized ways. First they gave a presentation and answered questions. Then they asked participants to fill out a questionnaire about where they lived, worked, and played. The presentation for that meeting is online. They even scheduled several more Public Involvement Meetings. Hm, I’m not seeing that schedule online, but presumably they’ll put it up before the meetings happen.

There was pretty good attendance: several plain citizens, the mayor, a couple of city council members, a couple of county commissioners, at least one planning commission member, a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals, a newspaper reporter, etc.

If you want a bus to run near you, I’d recommend going to one of these meetings, or contacting the organizer, Corey Hull, MPO Coordinator, 229-333-5277.

Lowndes County has a Thoroughfare Plan, which is currently being revised. We’ll see what the public input process for that turns out to be.

Congratulations to Car41No

Congratulations to Car41No for winning at least a temporary victory in keeping their two-lane blacktop from turning into Bemiss Road or worse. 500+ signatures on a petition, a letter from the city of Hahira, and assorted other means eventually did the trick.

Given the financial state of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), it would seem only prudent not to be spending on unnecssary projects. GDOT considered layoffs back in October to stem a 200 million dollar deficit, but

Instead, board members chose to cut $52 million in state aid used to help cities and counties build and maintain roads and bridges, leaving two programs that are highly popular with local officials without a penny for the rest of this fiscal year.

— Georgia DOT avoids layoffs, Atlanta Business Chronicle – by Dave Williams Staff Writer, Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Spending $6M on old US 41 would indeed seem most imprudent at this time.

Rail for south Georgia and Bill Gillespie

Bill Gillespie and GA-01For a while I’ve been going on about commuter rail for Lowndes County. It turns out there’s somebody running for Congress from Georgia’s First District (GA-01) who wants to do mass transit for all of south Georgia, including busses and rail: Bill Gillespie.

If you’re near Valdosta today, you can meet Bill, and the incumbent, Jack Kingston, at the South Georgia Political Forum. Ask Bill and Jack about mass transit.

Valdosta in 1885, with Train Station

The Atlantic Coast Line train station shown in the previous post seems to be the one shown in this birdseye panorama of Valdosta in 1885:

Panorama of Valdosta in 1885

Valdosta Bird’s Eye View, Wellge, H., 1885, found in Historic Map Works Rare Historic Maps Collection
I suspect this map was drawn by somebody who had never been there, judging by the trees. Still, it’s interesting.

Valdosta Depot, Atlantic Coast Line Railroad

Here’s a train at the ACL station in Valdosta:

ACL Depot

I don’t know the vintage of this picture. Those more clever than me could try dating it by the style of the Coca-Cola ads or the electrical poles or the clothes or the locomotive engine. I would guess 1920s.

This is the railroad (then known as the Atlantic and Gulf Railroad) that caused Troupville residents to uproot themselves and to found Valdosta as the Lowndes County seat at the present location, on the main line from Savannah to Thomasville. So this is the original Valdosta train station. I don’t know if it’s the original building, but it’s the original location, between Patterson and Ashley, where the overpass starts now.

Picture courtesy of Lowndes County Historical Society. They’ve got a caboose out back, too.

Cincinnati (and Valdosta) Streetcars

Here's another form of transit that could nicely complement busses and commuter rail: streetcars. The New York Times mentions several cities that have reimplemented streetcar systems. Pictured here is a potential plan for yet another city: Austin, Texas:

Nwtc-front-pic

As a Cincinnati streetcar proponent says:

“We have to plan for the future,” he said. “I believe in 10 years, we would ask, ‘Why didn’t we do this?’ It will be 10 times more expensive, and the cost of gas will be unaffordable.”

— Downtowns Across the U.S. See Streetcars in Their Future, By BOB DRIEHAUS, New York Times, Published: August 13, 2008

Valdosta likes to be visible nationally (TitleTown), so think about this:
After looking into streetcar systems in Seattle, Tacoma, Wash., and Charlotte, Mr. Dohoney became convinced that they spur growth. “Cincinnati has to compete with other cities for investment,” he said. “We have to compete for talent and for place of national prominence.”
Yet that could be growth without sprawl:
[streetcars] serve to shrink residents’ everyday world of work, shopping and entertainment by bringing services and businesses to one area.
That's a feature attractive not only to city dwellers, but also to us plowboys out here in the country who like to go to the city but don't want the city coming to us. Valdosta used to have a streetcar system. I don't remember it in use, but I do remember seeing remnants of its rails in a few streets. Streetcars would probably be more expensive to implement than commuter rail, because tracks would have to be laid and automobile traffic would have to be organized around it. Commuter rail using existing freight tracks would be easier to do first. But now while Valdosta is planning ahead would be a good time to see about fitting streetcars into the plan.

The Royal Palm, Valdosta, and Jacksonville

There used to be a train called the Royal Palm that ran from Detroit and Buffalo via Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Macon to Jacksonville. This schedule is for 1953:

Southernnewroyalpalm1953

Jacksonville Transit Blog brings this up while quoting a Valdosta Daily Times article about Valdosta's new transportation plan. Hm, 5 million people in Atlanta, 3/4 million in Jacksonville, and Valdosta halfway in between….