MARTA News (Atlanta, Marietta, Decatur: job market, public transportation, suburb)

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Oh, I didn't realize Amazon bought half of the Tilford property. But yeah, that only strengthens the case for more stations up that way. Even if that's going to be more distribution center type development than tech TOD, it's still a lot of jobs. What half of it did they buy? The southern portions of it?

They bought the northern portion. CSX still owns the southern portion where they have built a new TRANSFLO yard for railcar to truck transfers of various goods. Phase 1 of the Amazon facility will be an electric vehicle storage/service facility. Phase 2, which plans were just filed for, is unknown but it will be a smaller facility, but definitely a large building with minimal employees. I don't see that these Amazon developments will have a lot of employees, at least not many that could use transit. That's why I saw Marietta Blvd is better.

[cranberrysaus]

Originally Posted by primaltech

They need to completely redesign/rebuild that Bankhead station from the ground up, extend the length of it for full length trains, and rename it to something new and fresh and inviting (Bankhead just has too much baggage/negative connotation, and the road corridor it serves is not called that anymore). And there needs to be density all around it. Tech offices and residential on all sides, along with the walking trail along Proctor Creek and to the new park. That would be a game-changer.

Then they can go north from there with the Green Line, to new stations with similar TOD tech campuses and dense developments, along what used to be CSX Tilford Yard. Then put a final station somewhere in Bolton, and just dare Cobb County to extend it over the river, and connect their communities with all those new, high-paying technology sector jobs, and everything else the line connects to. Also the Green Line should run all the way past Decatur, since it would have normal sized full length trains now (currently it has the short stubby half length ones, cause Bankhead is a short platform).

It's currently MARTA's worst of their 4 lines, but it could be the best in just a matter of years, if they focused on that. Seems like there could be a lot of PPP funding opportunities there.

My understanding is that MARTA never really wanted to build the green line branch in the first place, but was obligated to under the original referendum that passed in Fulton County. That's why it was cut short to a 1 station, 2-car platform stub.

But yes, it is a bit ironic that what was originally an afterthought could one day become a very valuable part of the system in just a few years.

Originally Posted by MattCW

Most of what you're talking about is happening. It's been said here and elsewhere that MARTA is in the beginning process to extend Bankhead to an 8-car platform and run the trains as far as Avondale. As far as going north, that's now complicated by the sale of half of Tilford to Amazon. Since Tilford is no longer in play for TOD, it would make more sense to go under the south end of Inman and the south tip of Tilford and follow Marietta Blvd to and beyond Moores Mill which is already something of a bus node and has a lot of development filling in.

I've always wondered why they never just terminated green line trains at Avondale in the first place. Being the only station with 4-track platforms, it seems the best place to do it.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by cranberrysaus

My understanding is that MARTA never really wanted to build the green line branch in the first place, but was obligated to under the original referendum that passed in Fulton County. That's why it was cut short to a 1 station, 2-car platform stub.

Correct. Basically, the 1971 Referendum Plan passed by only a few hundred votes, and this was after MARTA and its partner governments did heavy lobbying with the city's black community, particularly at Perry Homes. The "sweetener" to get their residents to support it was a direct rail line to the housing project. While the West Line was built with a tunnel provision for the Proctor Creek Branch (which stopped at the existing tunnel portal), MARTA pretty much gave them the cold-shoulder until they were forced into it (IIRC, there was the threat of litigation). Hence they cheapened out on the construction only to Bankhead, and there were times that MARTA nearly mothballed the project.

[primaltech]

MARTA really wanted to build the northwest line (which they had also left a provision for), mostly tunneled, with stations at Brookwood and Northside Dr, and eventually beyond. They even put the planned stations on the rail map in the trains at one point, I remember. And had that have been built (instead of stupid selfish NIMBYs screwing over the whole metro as usual), that would have been the ideal NW line, connecting into Midtown and directly to the airport. The third or fourth stop I think was planned for Moore's Mill.

But since that line seems extremely unlikely to ever happen, especially now with all the costs that would be involved, Green should be the one to do it. They should run it up to Moore's Mill, completely within the City of Atlanta, funded by private corporate investment as much as possible. Then Cobb could figure out what they want to do, with their own funding, to make it cross the river and go up to the Galleria/Braves stadium area which would be ideal for a station.

Would be great if the whole region (or the whole state) could have an additional full penny sales tax, just for transit expansion projects. Which would bring Atlanta to 2.5 for MARTA/transit, and Cobb up to 1 penny, which could fund a lot.

I also wish MARTA could be converted to light rail, which would be a lot cheaper to expand the system in different directions. Then they could run it on the surface a lot more (with those crossing barriers and red lights where it crosses roads), and the stations could be super basic, mostly outdoor, not much more to them than the streetcar stations downtown.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by cranberrysaus

*SNIP*
I've always wondered why they never just terminated green line trains at Avondale in the first place. Being the only station with 4-track platforms, it seems the best place to do it.

Probably because most of the stations the Green line serves are low-ridership stations, while Avondale is not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARTA_rail#Stations Go there and sort by ridership, it's 2013 ridership. As someone who used to be a daily rider from Avondale, I can guarantee you that the crowds would be too much for the two-car trains.

[primaltech]

They should run Green to Avondale, then it could split north and run up to Clarkston and Stone Mountain. Or Tucker.

If MARTA had each of its 4 color lines split off individually like spokes at each end of the plus sign, then there would be 8 branches. After the airport, Red could run southwest in Fulton, and Gold towards Riverdale/Jonesboro.

[SEAandATL]

Originally Posted by primaltech

MARTA really wanted to build the northwest line (which they had also left a provision for), mostly tunneled, with stations at Brookwood and Northside Dr, and eventually beyond. They even put the planned stations on the rail map in the trains at one point, I remember. And had that have been built (instead of stupid selfish NIMBYs screwing over the whole metro as usual), that would have been the ideal NW line, connecting into Midtown and directly to the airport. The third or fourth stop I think was planned for Moore's Mill.

But since that line seems extremely unlikely to ever happen, especially now with all the costs that would be involved, Green should be the one to do it. They should run it up to Moore's Mill, completely within the City of Atlanta, funded by private corporate investment as much as possible. Then Cobb could figure out what they want to do, with their own funding, to make it cross the river and go up to the Galleria/Braves stadium area which would be ideal for a station.

Would be great if the whole region (or the whole state) could have an additional full penny sales tax, just for transit expansion projects. Which would bring Atlanta to 2.5 for MARTA/transit, and Cobb up to 1 penny, which could fund a lot.

I also wish MARTA could be converted to light rail, which would be a lot cheaper to expand the system in different directions. Then they could run it on the surface a lot more (with those crossing barriers and red lights where it crosses roads), and the stations could be super basic, mostly outdoor, not much more to them than the streetcar stations downtown.

Agreed with the first two paragraphs, not so much the last two. First off, I do not wish the existing heavy rail to be converted to heavy rail. That in itself will be an expensive project. We have to be thankful for the existing lines that we have, even though it hasn't been expanded for over 20 years. It is the backbone of the city and has served the communities of Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, Decatur, etc. with direct connections with each other and not to mention the airport. We are better off switching to other nodes for the suburbs such as commuter rail which will probably never happen, or more likely BRT, and light rail intown such as the Beltline/Streetcar extension.

The 2nd paragraph is why I disagree with the 3rd. We are better off with private investment, whether fully privatized or using P3. Clayton County's fate is exactly why I'm against any more tax increases for expansion.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by primaltech

They should run Green to Avondale, then it could split north and run up to Clarkston and Stone Mountain. Or Tucker.

If MARTA had each of its 4 color lines split off individually like spokes at each end of the plus sign, then there would be 8 branches. After the airport, Red could run southwest in Fulton, and Gold towards Riverdale/Jonesboro.

Any line to Tucker would most likely use the Tucker-North DeKalb provision just west of the East Lake station.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by primaltech

MARTA really wanted to build the northwest line (which they had also left a provision for), mostly tunneled, with stations at Brookwood and Northside Dr, and eventually beyond. They even put the planned stations on the rail map in the trains at one point, I remember. And had that have been built (instead of stupid selfish NIMBYs screwing over the whole metro as usual), that would have been the ideal NW line, connecting into Midtown and directly to the airport. The third or fourth stop I think was planned for Moore's Mill.

The Northwest Line as approved in 1971 would've only had two stations at Brookwood (Peachtree @ 26th) and Northside Drive on the south side of I-75 near Bellmeade/Holmes (originally it was to be on the north end near Channing Drive). My guess is that it would've followed the existing Norfolk Southern rail ROW to get to Moores Mill, and that would've been above ground.

[SEAandATL]

MARTA is now proposing BRT instead of LRT on the Campbellton Rd corridor. It was one where LRT wasn't necessary and was a bad idea by KLB, which would have diverted the funds from the future Beltline rail.

https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-new...AXXOPH7UJNOJU/