Transportation, crime are biggest problems, ARC DeKalb County survey finds

Transportation is the biggest problem in the metro Atlanta area, according to a survey of DeKalb County residents conducted for the Atlanta Regional Commission.

More than 23 percent of those in DeKalb County identified transportation as the region's biggest problem. That was lower than the overall figure of 28 percent for the 13-county metro Atlanta region, where transportation was also identified as the biggest problem.

Crime ran a close second in DeKalb County, with almost 20 percent of the county's residents calling crime the area's biggest problem. Human services ranked third, while taxes and public education tied for fourth place in DeKalb County.
Overall in the 13-county metro Atlanta region, almost half of survey respondents (48 percent) said expansion of public transit would be the best long-term solution to traffic problems in the region. In DeKalb County, 58 percent of people believed this to be the case, the highest figure of any county in the Atlanta region.

Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed in DeKalb County said they frequently lack transportation.

In the larger metro Atlanta area, 28 percent of those surveyed said the biggest problem in the region is transportation. Crime ranked second, at 18 percent. Public education, at 10 percent, ranked third.

The 2019 Metro Atlanta Speaks survey is based on interviews with 5,450 people conducted by Kennesaw State University's A.L. Burruss Institute of Public Service and Research. The survey has been conducted every year since 2013.