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Sadly will probably never happen because it would be political suicide for whomever proposes it again. Incremental improvements to Hwy 20 seems to be the next best thing and it appears to be happening at various points.
I agree. Feels like much of the suburbs are still tied together with former rural farm roads. Particularly unless you're traveling near say Hwy 20 or 92, commuting across suburbs can be a pain.
Agree as well but I don't know if there's any easy way to fix this.
GDOT seems to agree with you on this one. I wonder if they'll ever extend tolls inside the perimeter (again).
Agreed. There's no reason especially suburbs should be built anymore without sidewalks.
I've heard a westward extension of the blue line is the most "shovel ready" one. Of course it all depends on Cobb, but even extending it to Fulton Industrial would be nice. East extension further into DeKalb seems the next most likely. I'm skeptical if Alpharetta will ever happen.
Fortunately these seem to already be in the planning stage.
If the Clayton commuter line ever happens it will be a nice example for this model.
Florida and Charlotte definitely, with possibly connecting to the Northeast Corridor in DC. Nashville would be nice as well. I don't think Chicago, Indy, or Houston really make sense versus travel time for flying.
Fortunately it sounds like MARTA has hired a consultant to completely rethink the existing bus network.
500 miles is rail’s sweet spot. It’s easier and cheaper to fly to destinations further than that.
NC already has beefed up its railroad tracks and Virginia has bought all the right aways and is going all in on rail.
If Atlanta and Greenville can build rail to Charlotte, once NC and VA cough up $4 billion to resurrect the abandoned S line (100 miles of new track required for VA portion) that bee lines from Raleigh to Richmond then
Atlanta will effectively be connected to the Northeast Corridor for faster (a little faster) service. Acela has new faster train sets but a catenary further South than DC is unlikely. Maybe battery tech. Will help.
I think Chicago to Atlanta would be a good HSR corridor (200+mph), about 720 miles, with the only intermediate stops in Indy, Louisville, Nashville, and maybe Chattanooga. And you could extend it one further stop north to Milwaukee, or 2 stops to Green Bay. And south of Atlanta, the same line could continue to Jacksonville or Savannah or Charleston. So it's a Lake Michigan <-> Atlantic Ocean line. Midwest to Southeast connection, bringing benefits to both regions.
And then a similar Boston to Houston line, with stops in New York, Philly, DC, Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Greenville, and then Montgomery (or Birmingham) -> New Orleans -> Houston. Port to port.
Atlanta being the intersecting point of those lines, would make it a hub. (Which is exactly what Atlanta was created to be.)
I think Chicago to Atlanta would be a good HSR corridor (200+mph), about 720 miles, with the only intermediate stops in Indy, Louisville, Nashville, and maybe Chattanooga. And you could extend it one further stop north to Milwaukee, or 2 stops to Green Bay. And south of Atlanta, the same line could continue to Jacksonville or Savannah or Charleston. So it's a Lake Michigan <-> Atlantic Ocean line. Midwest to Southeast connection, bringing benefits to both regions.
And then a similar Boston to Houston line, with stops in New York, Philly, DC, Richmond, Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, Greenville, and then Montgomery (or Birmingham) -> New Orleans -> Houston. Port to port.
Atlanta being the intersecting point of those lines, would make it a hub. (Which is exactly what Atlanta was created to be.)
Would be interesting. My imagination stems to believe most commuters will not be using it for the entire route unless for pleasure purposes. Atlanta to Nashville or Chicago to Louisville is about the limit where it becomes more advantageous to fly vs HSR.
High speed rail network, would benefit MARTA and Metro Atlanta transit tremendously. More people coming in to town via train, not attached to cars. Ideally the station would be connected right in to the Five Points MARTA, with easy air conditioned underground navigation. Walk off the train from New York, hop right on the MARTA train towards your destination in metro.
And also have the commuter rail hub built there along with it, for the greater north GA region.
And maybe even regional rail to Athens, Macon, etc. All in one big grand central train hub terminal downtown.
Would be interesting. My imagination stems to believe most commuters will not be using it for the entire route unless for pleasure purposes. Atlanta to Nashville or Chicago to Louisville is about the limit where it becomes more advantageous to fly vs HSR.
Personally, I hate flying. So I'd definitely use HSR for trips to cities less than 3 hours away via HSR, and I'd probably use it for trips a bit longer. Depends on the price and hassle comparison, etc.
I probably wouldn't take it from Seattle to Atlanta, but maybe once as a pleasure trip, visiting some cities along the way.
I lived in Atlanta briefly in the late '90s. Even then it was already too sprawling for my taste. Just getting together for a quick coffee with someone could take a long time in the car. More roads and more sprawl certainly wouldn't appeal to me. I'd prefer to have walkable districts where you could easily get to work and meet people, without having to spend a long time in the car. No Atlanta for me (or Houston or Dallas) due to too much sprawl.
Not sure how you calculate that conclusion. Hypothetical usage of a comprehensive, frequent, reliable, useful, connected system that doesn't exist currently? What numbers and benefit exactly vs what cost? A couple pennies of sales tax? Your Chick Fil A sandwich costing 10 more cents, is not worth spending half your life in traffic?
I think if you doubled the size of the MARTA rail system within the 5 core counties, via key extensions out into the populated burbs, and new key stations both inside and outside the perimeter (including an infill station at Krog St that connected with light rail on the east Beltline), you'd probably gain at least 5x the ridership (not 2x). At least 5x... Lots more regular riders and commuters, lots more occasional riders, and also more 'I live in Suwanee and I just use it for the airport or maybe the Falcons game', because there would be a convenient station for Suwanee, instead of having to drive all the way down to Doraville.
In the northwest/ I-75 corridor's case, it wouldn't even be an extension, it would be building an entirely new line out from Midtown, and connecting the Braves stadium and Cumberland/Galleria business area. I think you'd get usage galore there, in both directions.
Then if you add on a regional commuter rail network on the historic corridors (which would connect great pedestrian friendly and hip destination spots like the Marietta square, and downtown Lawrenceville, etc), and more light rail/streetcar lines, and improved bus system, all of it connected to that heavy rail metro system, then you're multiplying the usefulness. Usage would skyrocket.
Then you're gradually creating an overall culture where it's not necessary to get everywhere around town by car all the time (even if you still need a car mostly), and normalizing taking trains more, and thereby more % of normal type regular people will be on the trains too, less % of drunk knuckleheads and such that you might see now, bringing down people's perception.
Atlanta will never solve the traffic, but there's no reason they can't give people a way to bypass it.
There are some realities to living in major cities, and one of them is that it's not feasible to traverse long distances within them on a daily basis.
I want the heavy rail system for marta expanded, but the reality is that it's un believably expensive in the US due to all the environmental regulation and litigation that will be associated, and of course federal money will be full of red tape and obligations to use a percentage of union labor. etc.
I can only think of two heavy rail lines being built in the US right now. The recently completed Silver Line in D.C. where deferred maintenance over decades crippled their system so badly that people stopped riding the metro because it was so unreliable due to track fires and delays...
and LA's purple line which is astronomically expensive and has been under construction for over a decade even as ridership on all the new LRT lines remains abysmally low.
Even if Atlanta built new lines to North Fulton and Tucker, you'd have a situation like our 1960's layout of interstates: It assumes everyone works downtown and Midtown, and God only knows if half of them actually commute from suburb to suburb.
$10 billion would have been spent on lines that some in those two places could take to intown Atlanta, but likely the operating costs and construction costs would be benefiting too few riders to justify.
And I'm against Light Rail on the Clifton/Emory line because transitioning to another system from Marta heavy lines will take 10 minutes and be a huge detractor to ridership.
I would rather expand the heavy rail system for a fast, seamless ride which is the biggest enticement for people to ride.
A person spending $36K a year and living in Fulton and Dekalb personally shells out $540 a year just to subsidize the operational costs of MARTA.
That's a lot in my opinion for a system that people misconstrue as offering a cheap trip and solvent just with fare revenue.
it is expensive but also necessary in large cities for people to get around.
If you want major expansion of Marta, you've got to be willing to shell out double or triple the above amount in some form of tax, and you can't expect the rest of the state to contribute anything towards it.
I say think outside the box, plastic air-conditioned gondolas gliding above the tree canopy which seems like could be done for very cheap, no land acquisition except for the poles holding the wires, make them white plastic to absorb as little heat as possible and be lightweight.
The cable could move continuously like the SF cable cars and you just clamp onto it to move.
I think a moving sidewalk using that same clamp-to-cable propulsion could work on the beltline.
I do support light rail on the beltline, but I think the neighborhoods along it are too diverse for it to ever become an indispensable commuting workhorse.
I mean, if MARTA converted their heavy rail to light rail, then the Emory corridor and Beltline projects could be seamless parts of the system. And potential expansions into Cobb/Gwinnett would be cheaper to build, could be built largely at-grade. But, I guess the trains would lose some speed/capacity. But probably not much, I mean all the existing system would still be tunneled/aerial/completely in its own ROW. The LRT here in Seattle goes about as fast as MARTA when it's running in tunnels/above grade.
Regardless of that, and regardless of any expansion or not, more and more mixed-use density needs to continue to be built around the stations. Like, for example, the Doraville Assembly TOD project would make expanding that line into Gwinnett make even more sense. As well as the Brookhaven TOD plans replacing that parking lot, and whatever else. People want destinations on the line, especially on the inner stations. And park & ride decks too, but more on the outer stations.
High speed rail network, would benefit MARTA and Metro Atlanta transit tremendously. More people coming in to town via train, not attached to cars. Ideally the station would be connected right in to the Five Points MARTA, with easy air conditioned underground navigation. Walk off the train from New York, hop right on the MARTA train towards your destination in metro.
And also have the commuter rail hub built there along with it, for the greater north GA region.
And maybe even regional rail to Athens, Macon, etc. All in one big grand central train hub terminal downtown.
Did you ever see the plans for the MMPT at Five Points?
$10 billion would have been spent on lines that some in those two places could take to intown Atlanta, but likely the operating costs and construction costs would be benefiting too few riders to justify.
This.
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