18 replies to this topic

[Sloan]

http://decatur.patch...-line-on-monday

[KevinKorell]

As with any news item I see coming out of the state of Georgia, I'll believe it when I see it. Nifty idea, connecting suburbs to suburbs and intersecting with two different heavy rail lines, and I do hope it comes to be. Georgia, however, has a poor "track record" with putting its various plans into fruition, so we will see whether the state plans to help out in this endeavor.

[EvergreenRailfan]

As with any news item I see coming out of the state of Georgia, I'll believe it when I see it. Nifty idea, connecting suburbs to suburbs and intersecting with two different heavy rail lines, and I do hope it comes to be. Georgia, however, has a poor "track record" with putting its various plans into fruition, so we will see whether the state plans to help out in this endeavor.

Good point. It seems as if Atlanta built the MARTA, and then just let the existing system be, while they embarked on freeway expansion and sprawl. I hope that this does happen, but from your description, a lot could happen to stop it. It would work out good connecting two different lines of the existing heavy rail system.

There used to be a joke somewhere around here that if one wanted to ride Seattle's subway, one had to go to Atlanta, as the original Federal money for the MARTA allegedly came from the money earmarked for the system that was rejected by Seattle Voters in 1968 and 1970. Although the city here could have used an expanded rail transit system by now, maybe the voters might have done the right thing at the time, because I think what was built today, combines the best of all worlds. Atlanta was kind of restricted in the technology that was applicable at the time, especially with rolling stock manufacturing, as the forerunner of the modern LRV, the streetcar, had been out of domestic production for quite awhile at the time.

Edited by EvergreenRailfan, 07 April 2012 - 01:34 AM.

[KevinKorell]

One can also deduce that there's been a shortage of good news from there when MARTA puts out an announcement that they are going to make an announcement.

[KevinKorell]

Atlanta, GA Journal-Constitution, 4/6/12:

MARTA pins hopes on new sales tax for light rail

MARTA board members are to decide Monday whether to move forward with plans for its first major expansion since it ran rail to North Springs in 2000. They only have to find an estimated $1.6 billion to lay nearly nine miles of track.

More

[Sloan]

http://www.pba.org/p...coming-t-splost

[KevinKorell]

Atlanta, GA Business Chronicle, 10/21/14:

The Federal Transit Administration and MARTA are moving forward with a study of a possible new light rail transit line that would run through the Clifton Corridor, two years after metro voters defeated a tax that would have funded the line.

Full story here.

[Sloan]

FTA, MARTA launch LRT study

he Federal Transit Administration and Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) are advancing a study that could establish Atlanta's first light rail transit (LRT) line along what's called the Clifton Corridor, along a rail line owned by CSX Corp.

http://www.railwayag...campaign=RGN 10

I'm assuming this is a route that runs primarily through DeKalb County. Planning has been in the works since 2009.

Sloan

[Sloan]

 

 

[color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Merriweather;]The dramatic transportation overhaul promised by [/color]T-SPLOST [color=rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Merriweather;]is dead, but at least one of the projects included in the proposal — light rail in the so-called "Clifton corridor" — is still plodding along.[/color]

 

http://atlanta.curbe...on-corridor.php

 

Not mentioned in the article is anti-rail sentiment in Georgia government that has held this project back. This contumacious stance along with dithering has delayed progress for over seven years.  I'm glad to see it moving forward, albeit at a snail's pace.  

 

Sloan

[KevinKorell]

It sure is a small step.  Georgia has always been unfriendly to any new rail lines. It's a wonder that Atlanta is going to soon be getting that streetcar. But the whole area sorely needs commuter rail in several directions, and they cannot get it going.  Light rail has been proposed for a few corridors, and obviously anything that connects with the existing MARTA heavy rail network will be a plus.