Next Monday, our local legislative delegation will join their counterparts from across the state under the Gold Dome in downtown Atlanta.

Monday, Jan. 9, marks the start of the 40-day session of the Georgia General Assembly, when politicians are supposed to set aside their personal agendas and do what’s best for the state of Georgia and the specific areas each legislator serves.

There are many projects in waiting, some under way, some being discussed and some just pushed off till another day.

One such project being pushed off is the managed lanes project for I-75 and I-575 in Cobb and Cherokee counties.

This project sounded like a mess from the get-go: $1 billion for a lane that changes direction depending on the heavy traffic commute direction and costs a certain amount of money, depending on how congested traffic is.

A billion dollars seems like entirely too much money for such a project, and to top it off, the state would have been pigeonholed by a private developer until the bill was paid in full.

No, thanks.

After the similar lanes opened on I-85 over the summer, the governor’s office got a lot of calls. Commutes were taking longer, and drivers were confused.

Now, they say the lanes are being used more, but it seems the conundrum of the I-85 toll lanes got transportation officials, and even the governor, thinking.

For quite some time, the toll lanes in Cherokee have been touted, saying congestion would be eased by adding the reversible lane, but why would we want to spend more money when our taxpayer dollars already are the bills and coins paying for the roads in the first place?

Restricting lanes only would benefit those who have the extra cash every day to get to work faster, and, even then, it seems those folks would be paying double.

Now, commuters who travel the I-75/I-575 corridor daily might disagree, but it doesn’t seem all that bad. I’ve had appointments in Cobb and inside the perimeter that had me traveling back to Cherokee in rush hour traffic.

The average in peak traffic was 30-45 minutes from Windy Hill, Delk Road area to about midway through Cherokee County. And I wouldn’t have paid an extra dollar or so to cut my travel time by 5 to 10 minutes … not worth it.

A couple of weeks ago, Cherokee’s state Department of Transportation board member Brandon Beach announced in a press release that GDOT is pulling that project and officials are considering an alternative.

If you really want to spend cash in the billions on transportation, look to light rail from Cherokee, Pickens, Gilmer counties into Atlanta. It costs a pretty penny, but our dependency on gasoline would dwindle and fewer cars emitting toxins will be on our roads.

And on top of it all, you’d probably get to work faster.

If light rail seems like only a pipe dream, because of its costly price tag and long construction period, let’s first look at easing congestion on our surface streets, like Ga. 20 and Ga. 140. Some work is under way (like truck passing lanes on Ga. 20), with work to Ga. 140 planned should the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax pass in July.

It’s understandable that everyone in Georgia wants a slice of transportation pie, but it’s up to our local delegation gets us our cut before the pan is wiped clean.

Another hot topic of mine and has been for years is partisan election of our local school board.

Under current law, the local delegation can submit local legislation to make the elections non-partisan.

Choosing a school board member shouldn’t be about politics, it should be how the person is best qualified to make decisions about Cherokee children’s education.

That may mean they once were a teacher and/or administrator in a school district or were once a CFO handling multi-million dollar projects.

It shouldn’t matter if there is an R or D next to their name.

And eliminating political posturing from the school board also will keep political parties from doing what Cherokee’s Republican Party did last year—asking school board members to step down because the party didn’t like the way they voted.

A Republican Macon legislator seems to feel politics don’t need to be in many elected offices.

Rep. Allen Peake hopes to make non-partisan elections possible when choosing a sheriff, tax commissioner, district attorney, solicitor general, tax collector, tax receiver, coroner, surveyor and members of the county governing authorities, according to legislation he pre-filed last month.

There’s no question that folks not elected to office, but who are high members of a political party, have power to pressure those who are elected. Behind the scenes rumor-milling and power plays can sway those in elected offices to make decisions to their liking, even though it likely is a violation of the code of ethics.

Removing the politics can help those in office better serve the people who got them there.

There are many things that will take place under the Gold Dome during the General Assembly, and if there’s something you feel is of the utmost importance, contact the person who elected you. Our local legislative delegation, their names, pictures and contact information is listed on Page 8 of the Ledger-News every week.

Send them a note, and tell them what you want done in 2012.