The 21-country Atlanta metropolitan region will add 1.8 million new residents and 856,000 jobs by 2050, according to a recent estimate by the Atlanta Regional Commission.
That will give the sprawling area a population of 7.9 million, with most of the expansion from minority groups. The percentage of Latinos will increase from 12 to 21 percent.
The report shows that most of the population growth will come in outlying Forsyth, Barrow and Paulding counties, which unfortunately indicates that the region will remain mired in long-distance automobile commutes by individual drivers.
In issuing the report, ARC approved $169 billion in federal, state and local money for transportation projects through 2050, including an insufficient expansion of mass transportation. Most of the money will go to road construction and maintenance to serve commuting by automobiles.
A few warning signs cast doubt on the ARC's projections.
The region's water supply appears insufficient for that many new residents. Health care inequities and affordable housing shortages will worsen.
Unless electric cars replace those powered by gasoline, fossil-fuel emissions will keep rising to unsustainable levels.
Extreme weather and other harmful effects of climate change will increase, unless the economy shifts to alternative sources of energy like solar power.
The optimistic future the ARC envisions depends on a transformation to a green economy.
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