ATLANTA – A lack of places for big rigs to park in Georgia is threatening the safety of both truckers and the rest of the motoring public, transportation experts said Tuesday.
Truck drivers who have driven the maximum number of hours allowed under industry regulations frequently find truck stops and highway rest areas full and are forced to park along roadsides, Daniel Studdard, manager of freight planning for the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), told members of the Georgia Freight & Logistics Commission during a hearing at the state Capitol.
“When a truck is parked in an unauthorized location, it really creates a crash risk,” Studdard said. “This is personal for [truck drivers]. They need somewhere safe to park.”
The shortage of truck parking was among the findings in a report the Georgia Freight & Logistics Commission released last January. The General Assembly formed the panel of lawmakers and logistics industry executives last year to look for ways to expedite the movement of freight across the state.
Jannine Miller, director of planning for the Georgia Department of Transportation, said the demand for truck parking has increased during the coronavirus pandemic, which has sparked huge growth in e-commerce.
“We’ve all benefited from at-home deliveries during the pandemic,” she said. “[E-commerce] has been growing several-fold.”
Miller said another factor driving demand for truck parking is the industrial growth taking place in Georgia despite COVID-19.
The state Department of Economic Development reported $7.4 billion in private investment took place in Georgia during the last fiscal year, even though the economic lockdown resulting from the pandemic crippled business activity during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 last spring.
“Eighty-four percent of that investment was in companies that require logistics to move their goods,” Miller said.
Studdard said most of the current supply of truck parking spaces in the Atlanta region is limited to Fulton County and edge counties including Coweta, Henry, Jackson and Hall. Other counties in the region have few available spaces, and Gwinnett County has none, he said.
More than 90% of truckers traveling through the region reported it typically takes them at least a half hour to find parking, according to a study the ARC completed in 2018.
“That’s a waste of their time and fuel,” Studdard said. “If they’re driving around looking for somewhere to park, that also affects our traffic congestion.”
Potential solutions to the problem other states have been exploring include converting large highway medians or undeveloped parcels in areas zoned for commercial use into truck parking, or simply building no-frills truck parking lots equipped only with restrooms, lighting and some form of security.
Miller said the current supply of truck parking in Georgia is too concentrated in metro Atlanta. Savannah, in particular, has a need for more truck parking to accommodate the growth of the containerized cargo traffic in and out of the Port of Savannah, she said.
“We need to have more truck parking areas scattered around the state,” she said.
The Georgia Freight & Logistics Commission will continue to meet this fall and expects to deliver recommendations by early December.
ATLANTA – Georgia State University President Mark Becker will leave next June after 12 years in the post, Becker announced Tuesday.
Becker said he plans to take an educational leave to conduct research and write. The University System of Georgia will conduct a national search for a successor to take over next July.
Under Becker’s leadership, Georgia State has set records for enrollment, graduation rate and total graduates. Its consolidation with Georgia Perimeter College in 2016 made Georgia State the state’s largest university with 54,000 students as of this semester and one of the largest in the nation.
“President Mark Becker’s outstanding leadership has helped Georgia State University set the national standard for innovation in student success, resulting in dramatic increases in graduation rates for students of all backgrounds,” said Steve Wrigley, chancellor of the University System of Georgia.
“Georgia State has gained in quality and stature during Mark’s tenure, from record-setting research productivity to strong financial management.”
Georgia State also gained in stature on Becker’s watch with the arrival of Division I college football. The Panthers launched football a decade ago playing in the since-demolished Georgia Dome before moving to the former home of the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, which was converted into a football stadium.
Becker was named one of America’s 10 most innovative university presidents by Washington Monthly in 2015. The university been ranked as one of the most innovative in the country by U.S. News & World Report ever since the innovation category was created.
Becker also has won accolades for promoting diversity. He won the Academic Leadership Award from the Carnegie Corporation three years ago for Georgia State’s achievements in “eliminating disparities in graduation rates based on race, ethnicity and first-generation status.”
As one of the most diverse universities in the nation, Georgia State is first in the country among nonprofit institutions in graduating African American students.
Becker also led a major building expansion of the university campus, becoming a major contributor to the redevelopment of the southern portion of downtown Atlanta.
University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley
ATLANTA – University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley Tuesday defended his decision to bring students back to the system’s 26 campuses this semester for in-person classes.
While some campuses – notably the University of Georgia – have reported large numbers of new coronavirus cases, most were mild or without symptoms, Wrigley told members of the system’s Board of Regents. Those new cases have started to come down in recent days, he said.
“We said all summer this would be different,” Wrigley said of reopening public university campuses across Georgia. “It is challenging … [but] we have become fluent in the language of the pandemic.”
Wrigley blamed the increase in new COVID-19 cases on large off-campus gatherings of students. A video of a packed gathering of University of North Georgia students in Dahlonega last month at a party the day before school started went viral.
Since the early days of the semester, students have shown great leadership tamping down those kinds of gatherings and following other safety guidelines including wearing masks, the chancellor said.
“We need to remain vigilant,” Wrigley said. “It’s a long semester. COVID-19 thrives on concentration and carelessness.”
Like the state’s K-12 school system, the university system shut down classrooms last March as the coronavirus pandemic took hold in Georgia. The schools completed the spring semester online.
The decision over the summer to resume in-person instruction drew widespread criticism from students and teachers worried about spreading COVID-19.
Wrigley reiterated Tuesday that the decision was based on the inherent advantages of the on-campus experience compared to virtual learning.
“We believe strongly in the richness it adds to education and overall student enrichment,” Wrigley said. “We will stay the course.”
In other business Tuesday, the regents adopted a request for $2.4 billion in state funding for the next fiscal year, which starts next July.
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget told state agencies not to ask for more money next year, citing the pandemic’s impact on the state’s economy, said Tracey Cook, the system’s executive vice chancellor for strategy and fiscal affairs.
However, the university system was permitted to seek a net increase of $61.5 million, primarily to cover projected student enrollment growth, Cook said.
Most Georgians believe parents should receive small federal grant funds to help pay for school supplies, child care and other expenses while their children are taking online classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a poll released this week.
Surveying Georgians likely to vote in the upcoming Nov. 3, the poll found roughly 77% would support Gov. Brian Kemp tapping into around $105 million in emergency funds to provide families with so-called microgrants, which cover small one-time expenses.
The poll also found many parents have spent $500 or more already on costs they would not normally have due to the need for virtual learning, such as computer hardware, child-care services, tutoring, internet access and services for students with disabilities.
“Georgians back microgrants because they understand not every family has the resources to educate their child at home and not all children can learn virtually,” said Christy Riggins, Georgia field director for the American Federation for Children. “We all want kids to get back to normal as quickly as possible, but until that happens, this program will bridge the gap in a way that will pay dividends literally throughout the students’ entire lives.”
The poll was conducted for the American Federation for Children and other groups by the Washington, D.C.-based firm Cygnal. It had a margin of error of 3.87%.
Many of Georgia’s nearly 2 million K-12 students started off this school year with virtual classes as the pandemic has continued to spark concerns from public-health and education officials over the potential for the virus to spread within school communities.
State officials have already made available funding opportunities for schools to receive federal dollars to boost internet access and for low-income families to help pay child-care costs for students learning from home while their parents work.
The state Department of Education has left it to local school districts whether to hold classes in-person or conduct them virtually amid the pandemic.
ATLANTA – Georgia voters still strongly support public charter schools eight years after ratifying a constitutional amendment letting the state create charter schools, according to a new poll.
The statewide survey of 640 likely Georgia voters commissioned by the Georgia Charter Schools Association found 67% expressed a favorable opinion of public charter schools. The poll was conducted Aug. 22 through Aug. 24 by Cygnal, a Virginia-based polling firm that works with center-right political and advocacy organizations.
The poll found support for public charter schools across the demographic and political spectrum, from Asian, Latino, Black and white voters, and among Republicans, Democrats and independents.
“These findings support what we have long known to be true in Georgia,” said Tony Roberts, president and CEO of the Georgia Charter Schools Association. “Families in our state continue to believe that public charter schools put the needs of students first and positively contribute to Georgia’s overall public school system.”
In a nod to the COVID-19 era, the poll also found 52% of Georgia voters said they would be less likely to support a state legislator who votes to continue funding school districts at the same level if they’re not offering full-time in-person learning.
Also, 56% of voters surveyed supported the state fully funding the charter school grants it has already created.
Among parents interviewed, 52% said they want more free public-school options.
A higher percentage of voters polled – 64% – said taxpayer dollars should follow the student and do not belong solely to a school district.
Georgia voters ratified a constitutional amendment in 2012 allowing the state to create charter schools upon the request of local communities, despite objections from minority Democrats in the General Assembly earlier that year that charter schools take away funding from regular public schools.
The amendment carried at the polls by a 59% to 41% margin.
The poll’s margin of error was plus-or-minus 3.87%.
