Will CCT ever build a rail system?

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I could see LRT running along the 41 corridor to Town Center and/or KSU from a major multi-modal transfer station at Cumberland. I think that corridor could have the density to support LRT with the line detouring thru historic Marietta Town Square.
Cumberland Transfer Station is the key. Riders could transfer to an eventual rail-based transit line along the top-end-perimeter or continue south along the I-75 corridor to the major employment centers of Downtown and Midtown.
I think that extending the Green Line from Bankhead to Cumberland would be the best option for transit from Atlanta to Cumberland.
Unfortunately, until MARTA gets its finances in order, which Keith Parker seems to be getting the agency on the right track, or the state dissolves all county-wide transit agencies and forms a REAL metro-wide transit agency a rail-based transit connection from Cobb County to MARTA served counties will not happen.

It's too difficult for people to use that system without a car. Better to drive to a station and use it to commute to downtown Atlanta and back . Commuter rail is the only thing that makes sense for Cobb.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

It's too difficult for people to use that system without a car. Better to drive to a station and use it to commute to downtown Atlanta and back . Commuter rail is the only thing that makes sense for Cobb.

Use the CCT buses as feeders to the LRT stations. Office parks and major employment centers could run shuttle buses like they do in Perimeter Center.

[jsvh]

There needs to be some sort of rail connection between Downtown / Midtown and the Cumberland area. There is not much between Atlantic Station and there to warrant many stops. HRT or Commuter rail make the most since IMO. They go longer between stops and operate at higher speeds. Both could also tie into exiting lines to continue to other destinations such as the airport with out other connections needed.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I could see LRT running along the 41 corridor to Town Center and/or KSU from a major multi-modal transfer station at Cumberland. I think that corridor could have the density to support LRT with the line detouring thru historic Marietta Town Square.
Cumberland Transfer Station is the key. Riders could transfer to an eventual rail-based transit line along the top-end-perimeter or continue south along the I-75 corridor to the major employment centers of Downtown and Midtown.
I think that extending the Green Line from Bankhead to Cumberland would be the best option for transit from Atlanta to Cumberland.

...Seeing as though the CCT Route 10 is one of the most-popular bus routes in the entire Metro Atlanta region and seeing as though the Cobb County and City of Marietta governments have a long-term goal to turn Cobb Parkway into a much more desirable address in the form of a landscaped and more pedustrian-friendly urban boulevard, I agree with you that LRT is likely very viable and probable on Cobb Parkway between the Cumberland Mall area and KSU.

Though, there would likely be no need to detour the LRT line off of Cobb Parkway into Downtown Marietta because there is a future Bus Rapid Transit line/possible eventual Heavy Rail Transit line slated to follow across Georgia Highway 120 between Lawrenceville and Marietta that will intersect with the Cobb Parkway LRT line at the Big Chicken at the intersection of Old GA Hwy 120/Roswell Road & US Hwy 41/Cobb Parkway.

For the sake of continuity, the LRT line could continue up Cobb Parkway in a straight line to the Town Center and KSU areas and people going to Downtown Marietta from that point of the Cobb Parkway LRT line could transfer and access the Marietta Square area via the east-west GA Hwy 120 transit corridor.

There are also much better options than an extension of the current MARTA Green Line from Bankhead for establishing a passenger rail transit link between Atlanta and the Cumberland Mall area.

Likely the best option for establishing a rail transit link between Atlanta and the Cumberland Mall area would be to continue the Cobb Parkway LRT line from Cumberland to Midtown Atlanta within (likely elevated above) the right-of-way of I-75 as was originally proposed by the Cobb County government.

Originally Posted by cqholt

Unfortunately, until MARTA gets its finances in order, which Keith Parker seems to be getting the agency on the right track, or the state dissolves all county-wide transit agencies and forms a REAL metro-wide transit agency a rail-based transit connection from Cobb County to MARTA served counties will not happen.

...That's a good point. With a long-term deficit that is projected to be at more than $2.9 billion, MARTA is in such bad financial straits that they cannot even be counted on to still be operating in their current form by the time these transit expansion plans start to come into fruition.

A very-likely scenario is that the state will not necessarily dissolve all county-wide transit agencies in the Atlanta region, but will fold them under a region-wide umbrella of GRTA which will not operate one region-wide transit system but merely just oversee and coordinate a series of partially-privatized regional transit systems each centered on radial or cross-radial multimodal transportation corridors.

The radial or cross-radial multimodal transportation corridors (or supercorridors as they have been referred to in the past) that regional transit systems will be centered on will be publicly-owned and privately-controlled and will consist mainly of:

...Roughly one regional passenger rail transit line that carries regional heavy rail and commuter rail trains.

...Multiple park & ride local and regional express buses.

...Maybe one or more light rail transit lines.

...At least one busy major surface road with at least one user fee-funded congestion-priced separated-grade intersection.

...And at least one major radial or cross-radial expressway whose operations and maintenance is funded with user fees and whose traffic is always kept moving at an average minimum speed of no less than 40-45 m.p.h. in the general purpose traffic lanes and no less than 50 m.p.h. in the express lanes with the use of 24-hour congestion pricing.

The Cobb Parkway LRT line in question would belong to the publicly-owned and privately-controlled and operated I-75/I-575 Northwest Supercorridor, which in addition to the Cobb Parkway LRT line would include:

...The U.S. Highway 41 roadway on which the Cobb Parkway LRT line would operate...Under the supercorridor concept, in addition to carrying a light rail transit line between roughly Midtown Atlanta and Downtown Kennesaw via Barrett Pkwy, Town Center Mall and Kennesaw State University, U.S. Hwy 41/Cobb Parkway would see the conversion of up to 12 of its busiest at-grade intersections into separate-grade intersections with tightly-configured urban interchanges that do not disturb the property of any existing development...Those roughly 12 separated-grade interchanges would be funded with user fees and controlled with congestion pricing where user fees would rise during peak hours to keep heavy U.S. 41 traffic moving through those new separated-grade intersections and encourage robust use of parallel transit lines (the Cobb Pkwy light rail transit and the W&A and GNRR regional heavy rail/commuter rail/interurban transit lines).

...Two user fee-funded maintained and congestion pricing-controlled Interstate highways in Interstates 75 & 575 which would be kept moving at average speeds of no less than 40-45 m.p.h. in the general purpose lanes and no less than 50 m.p.h. in the express lanes at all times with the 24-hour utilization of congestion pricing which would also be used to encourage robust transit use on parallel transit lines.

...Regional passenger rail transit lines roughly within the right-of-way of the historic State of Georgia-owned Western & Atlantic Railroad (W&A) that parallels I-75 between Atlanta and Chattanooga, and within the right-of-way of the Georgia Northeastern Railroad (GNRR) that parallels I-575/GA Hwy 515 between Marietta and the town of Blue Ridge in the North Georgia Mountains.

The regional passenger rail transit line that parallels I-75 within the ROW of the W&A between Atlanta and Chattanooga would carry regional heavy rail transit passenger trains between the Atlanta Airport and Cartersville and regional commuter rail transit passenger trains between the Atlanta Airport and Downtown Chattanooga.

The regional passenger rail transit line that parallels I-575 within and near the ROW of the GNRR between Marietta and Blue Ridge would carry regional heavy rail passenger trains between the Atlanta Airport and Downtown Canton in Cherokee County, and regional commuter rail transit passenger trains between the Atlanta Airport and the town of Blue Ridge in the North Georgia Mountains.

The regional passenger rail transit line that parallels I-575 within/near the ROW of the GNRR would also be a good candidate to carry regional interurban/interstate rail transit passenger trains between the Atlanta Airport and the regional Southeastern cities of Knoxville, TN and Asheville, NC because of the popular scenic tourist areas that lies between those cities and north of Atlanta in the Blue Ridge and Southern Appalachian Mountains of Southeastern Tennessee and Southwestern North Carolina.

[arjay57]

When Cobb gets ready they will build themselves a state of the art rail system that will come in under budget and run like a top. And it will go where they want it to go.

Folks up there know how to get things done but they don't like to be pushed.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by arjay57

When Cobb gets ready they will build themselves a state of the art rail system that will come in under budget and run like a top. And it will go where they want it to go.

Folks up there know how to get things done but they don't like to be pushed.

...That's an excellent point. Cobb County is very independent and when they get ready to act they will do so on their own accord.

Though, I think that it is highly possible that the Cobb County taxpayers will likely not have to pay a dime to build that state-of-the-art system with the increasing interest in that I-75/I-575 Northwest Corridor from private investors over the long-term.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Though, I think that it is highly possible that the Cobb County taxpayers will likely not have to pay a dime to build that state-of-the-art system with the increasing interest in that I-75/I-575 Northwest Corridor from private investors over the long-term.

Very true!

[bfarley30]

Originally Posted by arjay57

When Cobb gets ready they will build themselves a state of the art rail system that will come in under budget and run like a top. And it will go where they want it to go.

Folks up there know how to get things done but they don't like to be pushed.

Cobb can't even run a decent bus service for the county. No Sunday service, buses mainly run in the middle of the county, and they are eliminating bus service just like every other area. Heck, they just got advertisements approved for their buses. Cobb is full of a bunch of snobbish people that look down on ATL but come into the city to enjoy all ATL has to offer (entertainment and jobs) and then go back to their 'burbs and bash how their county is so much better. Cobb will never run a rail system unless it is MARTA HRT.