Final Gwinnett I-85 Public Input Session Is Thursday

The Gwinnett Transportation Department is holding its final public session Thursday on the I-85 Alternative Analysis Study. The session will be at the Gwinnett Place Marriott,  1775 Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth, 5-7 p.m.

Earlier this week, the Gwinnett Village CID hosted a meeting in Norcross to introduce the study, an analysis that will evaluate options for possible mass transit from the Doraville MARTA station to the Gwinnett Arena.

Also playing host to the event and study was the county, Gwinnett Place CID and the Federal Transit Administration. Together, representatives were available to answer questions on what types of transit could be best suited for the area. Gwinnett DOT officials and Atkins North America consultants, who worked on the study, also were there.

Although no formal presentation was on the agenda, the CID's office had about a dozen displays of data and diagrams explaining the different transit options.

"The study is looking at technologies, buses, light rail, heavy rail, monorail," Gwinnett Village CID Executive Director Chuck Warbington said. "In essense, every month we'll be narrowing it down."

Those who came were given a survey of 24 questions, asking opinions of how bad traffic congestion is and what major roads they usually take.

The study is only in its early stages, and there will be more public information meetings, with another taking place in perhaps two to three months, said Warbington. From there, moving forward with actually constructing the transit then depends on the referendum, which the public will be able to vote on July 31.

Dominic Perello, a maintenance electrician for Sears Logistics Services Inc., said he's in favor of building a rail.

"What's going to happen when gas is $10, $11 a gallon?" he said. "They're going to say, 'Why didn't we build trains five years ago so we could be using them today?'"