ATLANTA (AP) – A contract with Atlanta’s public transportation provider that would have brought a significant expansion of mass transit was voted down by a long resistant Georgia county on Tuesday.
Gwinnett County’s referendum asked voters if they wanted to authorize a contract with MARTA and impose a 1 percent sales tax for transit expansion projects in the county just north of the city.
Unofficial results from the county’s board of elections show that just over 54 percent of the nearly 92,000 votes cast opposed the measure.
Advocates said approval would have helped alleviate the area’s notorious traffic problems and air pollution from cars idling in rush-hour gridlock.
Some critics opposed the idea of a countywide tax for a transit system only some residents would use.