Design Your Own MARTA Expansion (Atlanta, Macon: condos, ferry, offices)

[Joke Insurance]

I know that this might be the wrong thread but I wanted to ask anyone who might be interested.

Could someone make a thread for commuter rail and inter-city rail in Georgia? Atlanta, Savannah, doesn't matter which Georgian city. I am asking someone else because I am not from Georgia and a Georgian would know the area better than me.

[NuclearDensity]

Originally Posted by SaintTaris

I would consider expanding the west line past Six flags all the way to Arbor Place Mall, with a stop on Thronton Road.

Great post SaintTaris - I definitely like your West Side expansion idea into Douglas County.

A great concept would be for the MARTA rail to run down the elevated center of I-20. Georgia DOT already owns this right of way, and it would be a fantastic reminder and free advertisement for MARTA trains to fly past drivers at 70MPH several times each morning while the cars are creeping along towards I-285 and downtown.

Good MARTA Station locations would be Fulton Industrial Blvd (station on south side of I-20), Six Flags Main Entrance (station on south side of I-20), Thorton Road (station on north side of I-20), Fairburn Road (station on north side of I-20), and finally Arbor Place Mall near Chapel Hill Road (station on south side of I-20).

A west line expansion would have a great impact on reducing vehicle commuter traffic from the west, as well as increasing MARTA ridership from all points especially by including the entertainment/tourist destination of Six Flags which currently receives several Million visitors per year. Maybe Six Flags would pitch in the funds to build the Six Flags Station in exchange for MARTA delivering an additional 1 Million annual visitors to their front gate.

[Craziaskowboi]

If I had my way, MARTA would only have one train line, and it'd go in a big-ol' spiral pattern around the metropolitan area! It'd have the following stops, in order:

- Turner Field (inner terminus)
- Centennial Olympic Park
- Midtown
- Buckhead
- Doraville
- Decatur
- Forest Park
- Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int'l Airport
- East Point
- Six Flags
- Mableton
- Smyrna/Vinings
- Cumberland/Galleria
- Sandy Springs/Perimeter Center
- Norcross
- Stone Mountain
- Morrow
- Riverdale
- College Park
- Austell/Lithia Springs
- Marietta
- Roswell
- Johns Creek
- Duluth
- Lilburn
- Snellville
- Lithonia
- Stockbridge
- Jonesboro
- Fairburn
- Douglasville
- Powder Springs
- Kennesaw
- Woodstock
- Alpharetta/Old Milton Parkway
- Suwanee
- Lawrenceville
- Loganville
- Conyers
- McDonough
- Fayetteville
- Peachtree City
- Newnan (outer terminus)

There'd be four tracks, with two trains each heading in opposite directions. Transfers between stops would be by bus. Atlanta's new nickname could be "Spiral City!"

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by NuclearDensity

#4 - Peachtree Road to Westside of Connector - Build a Heavy Rail Subway beneath Peachtree Road from Buckhead Station to Dome/GWCC Station with fill-in stations at Buckhead Village, Peachtree & Wesley Rd (lots of high rises in this area), Piedmont Hospital, then follow existing rail line to west side of connector stations at Atlantic Station, Georgia Tech, Georgia Aquarium/Centenial Park, then connect to Dome/GWCC station. This route would provide direct rail access for one of the most densely populated corridors in Atlanta and promote the building of more high rises and more density on Peachtree Road and on the west side of the connector. This route should be a subway at least from Buckhead to the Brookwood split, the traffic limit of Peachtree Road has been reached and a surface Streetcar solution would only create more traffic congestion creating a disincentive for greater population density. Definitely expensive, but correct implementation for future growth is essential.

This would be one the most critical routes, but the implementation would be tricky because things are so built up. You could do a deep tunnel with a TBM, and that is not out of the question at all. You're basically talking about a 3 mile run between the 75/85 split and the Buckhead Village.

Some of the tunnels recently built as part of the watershed project are longer than that and are probably big enough to handle a subway train. I remember talking to one of the engineers about the cost and while it's expensive it was actually less than I would have guessed.

I guess you could try to do cut and cover, but that would sure be disruptive. I remember some of the original MARTA construction -- what a mess!

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by NuclearDensity

There are several CIDs in the Atlanta area. The largest are:

Perimeter CID: Perimeter Community Improvement Districts
Cumberland CID: Home - Cumberland Community Improvement District (CCID)
Buckhead CID: Buckhead CID - Home

Whoa. They're building a pedestrian bridge from Buckhead station across both sides of 400? Very nice. That'll easily shave hundreds of yards off the walk from nearby buildings to the station, a few of which house or employ thousands of people, no doubt increasing ridership numbers.

I wish the BUC shuttle had a better schedule and routes. Such concepts can work--look at the Atlantic Station shuttle, which commonly fills up at the Arts Center station even after rush hour.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Whoa. They're building a pedestrian bridge from Buckhead station across both sides of 400? Very nice. That'll easily shave hundreds of yards off the walk from nearby buildings to the station, a few of which house or employ thousands of people, no doubt increasing ridership numbers.

I think that's actually been in the MARTA plans since the station was first opened and supposedly the money has been there, too. I'm not sure why it wasn't done earlier.

I agree about the effectiveness of shuttles. They can great if they're done right.

[bu2]

I think the comment about adding activity centers is key. Atlanta, despite MARTA, ranked 10th from the bottom on a recent analysis of effectiveness of mass transit. A very low percentage of jobs and low percentage of locations within 90 minutes.

Cumberland Mall and Emory are not connected. Northpoint (?) Mall in Alpharetta is not connected. And, of course, Gwinnet County is not connected. And the bus service is very slow here.

Based on the ideas others have thrown out, I would now have it:
E-W extend to 6 Flags (still not sold on Stone Mountain for a rail stop-Mnt Industrial Blvd business district is way too spread out to benefit from rail)
N-S line extend to North Point Mall (development should be encouraged there, not further out).
NE line extend to Mall of Georgia along the route proposed for Gwinnet light rail, mostly along I-85
Turn the other line into a loop by extending from Bankhead cutting up to near I-75 to get to Cumberland Mall, head east along 285 N to Doraville, down to Lindberg, over to Emory and then to Avondale following N. Decatur to Dekalb Medical Center to Dekalb Industrial. It would then complete the loop by heading through Downtown to Bankhead.
Have a new line from downtown Marrieta, Dobbins AFB to Cumberland Mall and then head east parallel to the beltline to Lindberg and possibly on to Emory and Avondale before turning around. This would serve East/West connectivity between downtown and 285. (In a world of unlimited funds, it would head east in subway along Peachtree Battle, up Peachtree in subway to Buckhead station then down to Lindberg).

[passwordq]

My Proposal

The Big Picture


Red Line - South Extension


Red Line - North Extension


My Proposed Purple Line - Extension South from College Park


My Proposed Purple Line - Extension North from Arts Center


Green Line - West Extension


Green Line - East Extension


Gold Line - South Extension


Gold Line - North Extension


Blue Line - West Extension


Blue Line - East Extension

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by passwordq

My Proposal

The Big Picture


Red Line - South Extension


Red Line - North Extension


My Proposed Purple Line - Extension South from College Park


My Proposed Purple Line - Extension North from Arts Center


Green Line - West Extension


Green Line - East Extension


Gold Line - South Extension


Gold Line - North Extension


Blue Line - West Extension


Blue Line - East Extension

Cool...

[RandyWatson13]

This thread continues to be a great read! Great job everyone.