You have already gotten a taste of the advertising campaign in support of one of the most important votes in metro Atlanta history.

Consider that the infantry.

Those in support of the 10-county transportation referendum say they are ready for a long fight. The group is starting the biggest portion of its campaign Wednesday.

The group, led by business and civic groups such as the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, is trying to educate and convince metro Atlantans to approve a 1 percent sales tax for transportation projects.

The campaign has been broken up into two parts. The “education” portion started two weeks ago. Now organizers are rolling out their “advocacy” advertisements today. It is funded by private dollars. Organizers say they have gotten more donations than expected. They plan to blanket the metro area with ads all the way up to the vote on July 31.

The ad below will start running Wednesday on Radio, TV and online at untieatlanta.com

http://youtu.be/qQflt2gRATY

Opponents of the plan do not have a comparable campaign. But they say they will do what they can.

“I agree we’ve got a traffic problem,” Bob Ross, an opponent in Fayette County, told the AJC. “My concern is over half the money is coming from what’s pitched as a solution, but has very little impact on road congestion.”

Paul Bennecke, a head strategist for the campaign, said the ad speaks to all voters.

“I think it certainly gets the visual image of what people are dealing with every day; they feel like they’re in a knot,” Bennecke said. “I feel, at the end of the day, we have an issue that has nearly unanimous consent. We have a traffic crisis. The issue becomes, do we want to solve it or not?”

For the first time, residents in 10 metro counties will vote together to fund a list of transportation projects that totals $6.14 billion.

Bennecke expects the campaign to spend about $8 million, most of it on advocacy.