Gwinnett Seeks Public Input On Long-Term Transportation Plan

Gwinnett County is updating its long-term comprehensive transportation plan, and it’s looking for residents to tell them what their transportation needs are.

The county has scheduled six public meetings around the county starting March 15 as part of a campaign called Destination 2040. It is also looking for responses to an online survey that will be open for three months.

Alan Chapman, Gwinnett County’s transportation director, said these community meetings will help the county determine what residents want so planners can decide what’s needed. 

“I don’t know that Gwinnett County is resistant to any particular transportation improvement,” Chapman said. “I think we just have to understand the cost, the public support and really the exact need for it.”

More than 4,000 residents participated in a survey last fall as part of a county-wide conversation called the Gr8 Exchange. 

Thirty-seven percent of residents said they want more public transit — for example, bringing MARTA to Gwinnett or expanding the county’s existing bus service.

Chapman said the county is working to add more public transit. He added that the county is growing quickly, with a current estimated population of 919,290 people, so citizen input is important.

“We’re trying to find those areas of greatest need where our citizens are transit dependent or where the population density may support additional transit,” Chapman said.

In January, Gwinnett County commissioners approved money to restore bus service cuts made during the recession and to explore new routes.

Joel Wascher with the Gwinnett Village Community Improvement District helped launch the county’s Gr8 Exchange conversation last fall.

“Gwinnett is so large, it’s almost a million people and we can’t have a one size fits all transportation plan,” Wascher said. “The needs of citizens in one part of the county may vary greatly from those in another.”

Wascher said the county has grown and people are demanding more livable communities where they can walk and bike and have better access to the airport and other parts of metro Atlanta.

In the early 1970s, Gwinnett voters decided against approving a sales tax that would have brought MARTA rail service to the county.