In the not-too-distant

future there will be over 2 million more people living and working in

the 13-county metro Atlanta area.

Periods of

traffic congestion could last anywhere from one to six hours, even after

a nearly $40 billion dollar investment in new transportation projects.

Facing these

alarming projections, the Atlanta Regional Commission held the fifth of

a dozen regional meetings Tuesday night at the community room at Shannon

Mall in Union City. In trying to accommodate the buildup of traffic and

at the same time protect the quality of the air and water, the ARC is

gearing up for its biggest challenge to date.

"What

are we going to do when we have 6 million people in this region?"

asked Tom Weyandt, director of comprehensive planning for the ARC.

Set to begin

development in early 2005, the new plan, dubbed "Mobility 2030,"

attempts to solve these problems with a variety of short-term and long-term

goals.

While some

of these solutions concentrate on upgrading and extending existing services

such as MARTA to Fulton Industrial Boulevard, ARC officials are also looking

at other transit options. Officials said an express bus service that would

reach to surrounding counties, including South Fulton and Coweta counties,

could start next year.

Using HOV lanes

and up-to-date systems of transport, fare collection and route structures,

this new mode of metropolitan travel could help smooth out the bumpy road

ahead, Weyandt pointed out.

The comprehensive

plan put forth by the ARC also encompasses an extended HOV network for

all major interstates, including Interstate 85 in South Fulton and Coweta

counties, as well as 2,400 more linear miles of bicycle and pedestrian

pathways through densely populated areas.

The development

of a grid system of east/west, north/south multilane roadways to circulate

traffic around the outlying Atlanta area was yet another iinnovative proposal

offered by ARC officials.

The commission

will prepare their second draft of the plan by September after receiving

comments and suggestions from all interested parties and finalize the

plan in November. A more constrained outline, including cost estimates,

will be developed next year and projects will be given priorities for

construction.

ARC officials

plan to stage a similar meeting in Coweta County July 7, but have not

yet released the location and time for the meeting.