From the AJC:

Davis’s bill, HB 914, would redirect a portion of the gas tax from general state funds to transportation, which he said would put an extra $169 million into transportation in 2008. The state Department of Transportation’s annual operating budget is about $2 billion, and metro Atlanta agencies say the transportation funding shortfall is in the billions of dollars.

I have given state Rep. Steve Davis a hard time in the past. In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t a huge amount of money and not nearly the worst idea he has proposed during his tenure.

I just wish that instead of growing and growing and growing GDOT, that the state would divest itself of road-building entirely. Auction off the highways that aren’t owned by the feds to the highest bidder. Leave other roads up to county and local governments, and get rid of all transportation-related taxes at the state level.

Impossible, you say? If they can’t do that, then they need to fund transportation alternatives with an equal zest for bloat. As long as the state is funding all of these roads, private enterprise has no incentive to offer alternatives.