All for Nothing?: When CSX Transportation began tearing down the trestle that was featured on the back cover of R.E.M.'s album Murmur in 2000, locals and fans around the world sprang into action, urging the Athens-Clarke County government to save the landmark.

Former mayor Doc Eldridge and commissioners paid $25,000 for the trestle after it had already been partially demolished. They made plans to put what was left of it to use by turning the abandoned railroad into a trail, repairing the trestle and using it as a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists.

GDOT says a local rails-to-trails project will have an "adverse impact" on the Murmur Trestle.

Beyond saving a piece of history, the trail would have served as a level route from downtown to the Eastside, tying into the North Oconee River Greenway, Dudley Park, the Multimodal Center and the proposed Firefly Trail from Winterville to Union Point. But it's run into delay after delay and, eight years after it was originally proposed, only a trailhead off East Broad Street has been built. A 2009 engineering study questioned whether the trestle was structurally sound enough to save and noted that its wood had been treated with creosote, a carcinogenic chemical. And in 2011, the commission approved a plan to reroute the trail away from the deteriorating trestle, down a series of switchbacks and across an existing Trail Creek bridge because there was no money to repair or replace it.

"There are pieces that are deteriorating every day," SPLOST project manager Derek Doster said in December. "I don't think a good wind's going to blow it over tomorrow, but eventually a decision's going to have to be made to take some action." (Leisure Services Director Pam Reidy referred questions to Doster last week, but he didn't return a call for comment by press time.)

No action's been taken, and it looks like no action will be taken. Last month, the Georgia Department of Transportation declared that the trail's current route would have an "adverse impact" on the trestle. I'll say—the 200-page report on historic resources along the trail reiterated that the trestle will be left to rot and ordered ACC to document it with photographs and interpretive signs before it's too late. "The bridge is in neglect," GDOT spokeswoman Teri Pope says. "The project didn't have enough money to rehab the bridge."

The project is finally showing some signs of life. GDOT will finish right-of-way acquisition this fiscal year and start construction sometime after next July, according to Pope. And so, after 12 years of work and $12 million in sales taxes and federal grant money, the trestle is doomed anyway. "It's the worst possible decision" to leave it be, Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation Executive Director Amy Kissane says. "Either use it or get rid of it."

Kissane calls losing the trestle "more than a shame. It's a travesty." But at this point, she says it ought to be torn down. "It's too far gone," she says. "You can point fingers and blame whoever, but it doesn't matter." It should be replaced, though, with a new structure that honors the historical value of the old one. "The nice thing about the project was it was all one grade," Kissane says. "They're now going down one of the steepest hills in Athens and back up."

Complete Streets: If you're a fan of alternative transportation, the news gets better. GDOT approved a "complete streets" policy in September that requires the department to consider the needs of pedestrians, cyclists and transit users, in addition to motorists, when planning road projects, a move applauded by advocates like Brent Buice, former president of BikeAthens and now executive director of Georgia Bikes.

Athens-Clarke County is following suit. ACC generally already includes sidewalks and bike lanes on a case-by-case basis; local planners put forward their own complete streets policy last week. "The timing of it was really good," says ACC senior planner Bruce Lonnee. "It puts us on really sound footing with the state. It's something we kind of do anyway."

The policy—slated to go to the commission for approval as early as December—won't guarantee that all future road projects will include pedestrian and bicycle amenities. The topography might be too challenging, or some might be too expensive, Lonnee says. But if they don't, planners will be required to explain why.

Plans, Trains and Automobiles: Wrapping up this week's edition of Transportation Dope, Athens-Ben Epps Airport is getting a new commercial airline. SeaPort Airlines won a $1.5 million Essential Air Service subsidy last month, replacing GeorgiaSkies, which operated flights from Athens to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. SeaPort is offering two nonstop flights to Nashville, TN—where passengers can connect to Memphis, TN, and Jackson, MS—and three return flights on weekdays, and one roundtrip flight on Saturdays and Sundays. They're running specials this month, including one for Georgia fans traveling to the game in Auburn Nov. 10.

Congressional Republicans have called the EAS program wasteful for years and, in this case, they have a good point. GeorgiaSkies flew an average of just five passengers per day. Here's hoping SeaPort can do better and turn Ben Epps into a legit commercial airport.

Rain Tax: An Athens shopping center owner says he shouldn't have to pay his stormwater utility bill. The Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday, Nov. 6, in a lawsuit filed by Athens-Clarke County against Homewood Village LLC, owned by Howard Scott.

If the stormwater fee charged to homeowners is really a fee, lawyers Regina Quick and David Ellison say Homewood Village isn't receiving any services or benefit from it. (Although runoff from the shopping center is contributing to nearby Hunnicutt Creek's poor water quality, according to an ACC study. The money raised goes toward building, inspecting and maintaining stormwater infrastructure.) If it's a tax, Ellison and Quick say it's illegal under the Georgia Constitution.

County Attorney Bill Berryman says these issues were hashed out in McLeod v. Columbia County, when the Supreme Court ruled that a stormwater fee is a fee, not a tax. Superior Court Judge Lawton Stephens agreed in March, ordering Homewood Village to pay more than $72,000 it owes ACC dating back to 2005, plus late fees. Berryman says he doesn't expect a ruling before February.