Midtown Transportation Plan (Acworth, Monroe, Buford: rail, design, rich)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

Any route that cut West enough to pick up Mableton and Smyrna would not only be destructively expensive, but also add so much travel time that it would actively hurt ridership. That is, an I-75 routing would still be rather direct to Midtown / Downtown.

From the provisions to Cumberland via I-75: 8.86 miles

From Bankhead, through Mableton and Smyrna to Cumberland: ~19 miles

You don't have to go to downtown Mableton and downtown Smyrna. Just get across the river and 285, and slap a station in somewhere along say, Buckner.

Maybe something along those lines. That's only 10 miles and I know it would take a lot refining. But you'd be offering transit to a lot of potential riders.

Isn't there supposed to be a crosstown streetcar line from Bankhead to PCM that goes right through Midtown?

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Because then it would have to merge thru a ton of general purpose lanes, in rush hour traffic congestion.

For best results, the bus needs to stay exclusively in the HOV lane system, using only those center on/off ramp exits. Which is (eventually) planned to be converted to HOT managed lane along I-75 ITP.

Ahhh...yes, yes...gotcha.

They should add an HOV exit to 17th. Should be fair easy from both directions.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

Ahhh...yes, yes...gotcha.

They should add an HOV exit to 17th. Should be fair easy from both directions.

The plan is to use all that unused dead space in the middle of the Connector (leftover from the old configuration), to build both an HOV northbound and southbound access ramp, at a new bridge at 15th.

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.7920.../data=!3m1!1e3

And it would have nice bike lanes, and wide sidewalks as well. So it would be a benefit for Midtown, Home Park/Atlantic Station, as well as commuters coming into the city.

The bridge would fly over Williams St, and connect with Spring St, @ the newly extended 15th St. And on the west side it would fly over Techwood Dr, and connect with 15th St @ Fowler St.

The only thing that I would personally like to see that isn't in the plan, is to connect 15th between Barnes St and Atlantic Dr, thru Home Park. Then you could have another actual cross town route between Midtown and AS.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by arjay57

It seems (to me) to make a more sense than simply going up I-75. How many riders do you pick up along the way at West Paces?

By contrast, a more southerly route would serve NW Atlanta, Mableton, Smyrna and Cumberland.

Agreed, and that's where you'd get a larger portion of riders. Unfortunately I think the issue would become political for the same reason that North Fultoners have complained about not having very good rail access.

[primaltech]

That plan wouldn't happen because it doesn't make sense. No offense, Arjay.

If you live in Cumberland and work in Midtown (or vice versa), you're seriously going to take a train down 285, cut down thru Bankhead, get off at Five Points (after probably 10 stops), wait for/board the northbound train, go up a few more stops, then get off at your destination in Midtown? Why? Much faster to just drive.

If there's going to be mass rapid transit in Cobb County, it needs to be from Midtown out along the I-75/41 corridor, and connect seamlessly/directly to the airport. That should be before any other line in the county.

MARTA even built the starting point of that line. Unfortunately, not a single station has been built to this day.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by primaltech

That plan wouldn't happen because it doesn't make sense. No offense, Arjay.

If you live in Cumberland and work in Midtown (or vice versa), you're seriously going to take a train down 285, cut down thru Bankhead, get off at Five Points (after probably 10 stops), wait for/board the northbound train, go up a few more stops, then get off at your destination in Midtown? Why? Much faster to just drive.

If there's going to be mass rapid transit in Cobb County, it needs to be from Midtown out along the I-75/41 corridor, and connect seamlessly/directly to the airport. That should be before any other line in the county.

MARTA even built the starting point of that line. Unfortunately, not a single station has been built to this day.

Not offended in the least, primaltech.

The thing is, a Cobb line would have to serve more than just Cumberland and more than just Midtown.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Not offended in the least, primaltech.

The thing is, a Cobb line would have to serve more than just Cumberland and more than just Midtown.

Which is where things like other lines come into play. Commuter rail, as I have said a few times now, through Smyrna and Mableton to the county boarder would serve them just fine. Add in some true BRT, some ART, and some frequent bus routes, and you've got a bang-up show.

At some point, we can think about the Green Line and Blue Lines growing more westward, but the priority should be areas most likely to field the kind of dense development that supports heavy rail.

Commuter rail can pick up the park-n-ride commuters from the western part of the county, BRT can provide intra-county connections, and heavy rail can pick of the much more likely to densify corridor of Cobb Parkway. As Primaltech said, the best way to move people from Marietta, from the I-75/Cobb Pky corridor, and from Cumberland down into the city is via Midtown, Downtown, and to the airport without requiring additional transfers to streetcar/light rail or another heavy rail line where possible.

That means we follow the I-75 corridor ITP.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by primaltech

That plan wouldn't happen because it doesn't make sense. No offense, Arjay.

If you live in Cumberland and work in Midtown (or vice versa), you're seriously going to take a train down 285, cut down thru Bankhead, get off at Five Points (after probably 10 stops), wait for/board the northbound train, go up a few more stops, then get off at your destination in Midtown? Why? Much faster to just drive.

If there's going to be mass rapid transit in Cobb County, it needs to be from Midtown out along the I-75/41 corridor, and connect seamlessly/directly to the airport. That should be before any other line in the county.

MARTA even built the starting point of that line. Unfortunately, not a single station has been built to this day.

Depends on where the Cobb County commuters go. I haven't seen any maps or charts showing their trip destinations. Do many of them go to midtown? And if they go to Buckhead, you have the same issue.

I do think I-75 works better because there are destinations between midtown and Cumberland.

But you make a point I often make. Every transfer reduces ridership.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

It looks good to me, although I can't tell from the map whether they will be fixing the potholes and smoothing out all the unevenness.

If not, that definitely needs to be included. Streets like Piedmont and Juniper are like driving down a dirt road.

A Complete Street project would include milling and paving.

[cqholt]

A 15th Street bus-only ramp with frequent service (<15 minute peak hour headways) to Cumberland via Akers Mill ramps would provide a good and cheaper alternative to running rail. But CTC would need to be moved to a more accessible area, as it stands now, MARTA route 12 must use the mall to access CTC.
Cobb Pkwy has enough ROW where bus-only lanes could be added from Cumberland north, with buses operating in strictly enforced bus-only lanes.