Cobb leaders are calling transit connectivity imperative (Atlanta, Millen: schools, incomes)

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

Well, now's your real chance to push for it. Like I said, 4 years.

Here's the proposal I've been trying to push for the past month or so:

I'd be OK with light rail + commuter rail into Cobb. Trouble is, those are some VERY heavily-traveled rail lines, so HRT might be needed instead.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

I'd be OK with light rail + commuter rail into Cobb. Trouble is, those are some VERY heavily-traveled rail lines, so HRT might be needed instead.

There's generally land enough to build parallel rail lines along the freight lines. I'd rather use HRT for the I-75 / Cobb Pky route simply because it can integrate into the existing HRT system, and not force a transfer at Arts Center.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by evannole

I like it. If we could just have the Peach line, I would be more than happy.

The Gray line is an interesting concept but I think it would be tough to implement. The section nearest to the Square would almost certainly have to be tunneled... Roswell Street is quite narrow and built-up from Fairground to the Square, with very limited right-of-way, and there's certainly no room for an above-ground line there as a result. National Cemetery on one side, Public Library and pretty expensive high rise condo on the other, so none of those is going anywhere. Fitting a line into the Square would be quite a challenge as well. A below-ground stretch, though... That's an intriguing thought. (As long as it doesn't make my house rattle )

Nicely done concept and map, overall quite well thought out. If we could have a quarter of this - with the Peach line the most important part - and maybe a line running along the top end of the Perimeter, we'd really have something.

When I did the rough calcs, I had everything from the Cumberland area to Marietta Square burried. The 'nice' thing about the setbacks from Cobb Pky is that it leaves room to cut and cover without requiring TOO much moving of the roadway.

The Grey Line came in at just under $5 Bil. , including the section from Arts Center to the Chattahoochee. That's totally within the possibility of a Cobb MARTA sales Tax.

[primaltech]

One thing that I find frustrating that isn't Cobb's fault at all, is how totally underserved Fulton County and the City of Atlanta are by MARTA. Vast swaths of the city have no rail, no rapid transit, no park & ride. Just maybe barely 1 or 2 useless local bus routes, that take forever. And require you to live within walking distance of a bus stop.

If the heavy rail spine just simply went out to West Paces Ferry or Mt Paran, within the city, I'd be totally good. Cobb's politics wouldn't even affect me. I live ITP on one particular side of the river, but even if I lived on the Atlanta side of the river, I'd still have to drive all the way to Lindbergh in order to take the train to my job in Midtown, which is totally useless.

Vinings DGAF about Kennesaw having transit. I just simply want NW Atlanta proper to have commuter rapid transit options. Can't we start there? And can't we do that already?

[fieldm]

Originally Posted by arjay57

So MARTA would be running heavy rail in Cobb? I figured it would be buses.

What about rail for south DeKalb and north and south Fulton, who have been patiently paying into MARTA for nearly half a century? Does Cobb get priority ahead of them?

Hopefully the business community will finally step up and provide some serious funding for public transit.

Dekalb had the chance to vote on expanding their system in Nov and they chose to vote on another tax instead so this has nothing to do with MARTA. Whoever demands MARTA will get it sort of like someone who wants a new job. Some people will send out resumes and make calls. Others will just sit back and do nothing

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Cobb leaders are calling transit connectivity imperative - Curbed Atlanta



We will see what comes of it but times seem to be changing for the better in Cobb. Who knows, they may yet prove me wrong and join MARTA.

Cobb leaders are calling transit connectivity imperative because Cobb County basically has no choice but to embrace transit at this point in time.

With Cobb County basically being close to total build-out in terms of having a dwindling amount of land available for new greenfield development and with the increasingly heavily developed county currently being home to nearly three-quarters of a million people on a limited road network that was built-out years ago, Cobb has reached a point where it has become overwhelmingly evident that the county is going to need a very high level of transit service if is to continue to remain a highly desirable community in which to live, work, play and do business.

Though many older and transit-averse Cobb residents may remain staunchly opposed to the establishment of a direct high-capacity transit to and from the neighboring city of Atlanta, Cobb County as a whole cannot continue to pretend that it is a sparsely populated homogenous exurban county of only about 100,000 residents that does not need a high level of transit service just to remain logistically functional and economically viable.

The overcrowding of roads and schools and the worsening daily traffic jams on a road network that is as developed as it is ever going to be make it increasingly difficult to pretend that transit is not a necessity that the once-exurban county will need to avoid becoming a post-suburban urban slum over the next two decades.

Without high-quality high-capacity transit, Cobb County's population will continue to grow at a high clip but the people that come to the county in droves will be only people with lower incomes who are drawn to the lower housing prices that will be depressed due to the lack of high-quality transit connectivity in an era (in the 21st Century) where transit connectivity will be of increasingly critical importance in large major metro regions like Atlanta.

The people with higher incomes (high-income Millennials and Gen-Zers) will forgo transit-deficient areas like Cobb and move to other parts of the Atlanta metro area with increased transit connectivity in an era when an increasingly heavily emphasis will be placed on transit connectivity in large major metro regions like Atlanta.

The increased talk of wanting to expand high-capacity transit into Cobb County from Atlanta and other parts of the metro area is also being driven by the fears that the Braves' new baseball stadium (SunTrust Park) and adjoining high-density development (The Battery) will generate daily traffic disasters on the days when Braves home games are played shortly after rush hour on weeknights in an area that already experiences some traffic challenges during rush hour.

[fieldm]

SunTrust Park Transportation Update: https://youtu.be/-OfdgiqgGTU

They left out so much stuff in this video lol. They mentioned moving the start time up to 7:30pm like people are going to leave home at 7:15pm and be seated at the stadium at 7:30. People are still going to be in the 6pm traffic because they want to be able to park, find their seats and get something to eat by 7:30pm.

The new access points. It might work easier after the game but before the game those same people will still have to get there using 285 and 75.

At least at Turner Field you had the option to get off at GA State MARTA Station and walk or to take the bus from West End.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Cobb leaders are calling transit connectivity imperative - Curbed Atlanta



We will see what comes of it but times seem to be changing for the better in Cobb. Who knows, they may yet prove me wrong and join MARTA.

The Mike Lee era is over.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I can't find off hand which year it was that Cobb citizens voted against MARTA, but I believe it was in the 1960's.

The small % of us who "deserve it", are now either dead, or are senior citizens who don't have to worry about rush hour commutes.

Also, many of them probably came to regret their vote. Especially since it was way back in the f'ing civil rights era. Decades of traffic later, urbanization and hundreds of thousands of residents later, a vote on MARTA would be a different ballgame (no pun intended.)

If it was in the 60s, it was probably the right decision at the time.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by fieldm

Dekalb had the chance to vote on expanding their system in Nov and they chose to vote on another tax instead so this has nothing to do with MARTA. Whoever demands MARTA will get it sort of like someone who wants a new job. Some people will send out resumes and make calls. Others will just sit back and do nothing

They aren't even voting on that other tax.

Originally Posted by bu2

If it was in the 60s, it was probably the right decision at the time.

It was 1965, and it was shortsighted even back then.