Competing mobility needs: The users, actors, and discourses in Atlanta, Georgia

There is a growing use of sales tax referendums to fund transportation in the US; this takes conflicts over funding out of the technical planning process and into the public arena. An analytical framework is presented that examines the interactions between transport users, political actors, and discourses in the competition over transport resources. A case study of the selection of projects for a tax referendum in Atlanta, Georgia is used to illustrate the importance of understanding the interactions between all three factors. The outcome of the project selection represents the growing importance of the choice discourse in Atlanta. The political power of actors is not correlated to the size of transport user groups they represent. Understanding the differences in discourse is important to understand disagreements within actor coalitions.

► The use of sales tax referendums is changing competition over transportation funding.
► The interactions between users, actors, and discourses are examined.
► A case study of a funding referendum in Atlanta, Georgia is used.
► The power of actors is not correlated to the size of the user groups they represent.
► Differing discourses can create problems in actor coalitions.