$1.2 billion downtown terminal on track for 2017 opening (Atlanta, Decatur: low income, section 8)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by JoeTarheel

I love Five Points and all of its history, but I realize that many, many people view it negatively.

The goal is to get this done, and that will never happen unless you get major buy in from Atlanta's massive suburbs. That's where 93% of the population and a whole lot of the money and political clout is.

If this terminal has the long term effect of bringing Five Points back to prominence, the naming will take care of itself.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i agree with the infill on the west side, especially along howell mill, northside, marietta boulevard, etc.— but if you're going to build rail through there, it needs to be integrated with the marta system— having a regular train going that short of a distance would spend a tremendous amount of time trying to turn the thing around, getting the thing going to a good speed, etc.

check out this idea i had to integrate the gold line (going to doraville) into a west midtown line.

cobb line? - Google Maps

Wow, that looks virtually identical to an idea I had, except it would run up Northside Drive instead of following I-75 and I branch the Cumberland line off the existing Red/Gold lines and run a new "westside" line up the Red/Gold lines north of Arts Center. It's the red "Cumberland" line on that map. As you can see, I've given thought to lots of other potential MARTA routes including an extension from Cumberland as far as the Marietta Transfer Center/Southern Polytech.
http://goo.gl/maps/uSHTQ

But I agree with not running it on the Atlanta-Vinings-Cumberland CSX line, CSX is already extremely busy over that route, and at best, the trains couldn't run more than twice an hour all day with more trains around the peak periods. Between Cumberland and Atlanta, MARTA Heavy Rail is really the better idea, and not following the CSX right of way. I do think that if commuter rail is ever run up CSX toward Marietta, there could be enough demand for a Midtown station between W. Marietta St. and Northside drive particularly since Georgia Tech is right there.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Wow, that looks virtually identical to an idea I had, except it would run up Northside Drive instead of following I-75 and I branch the Cumberland line off the existing Red/Gold lines and run a new "westside" line up the Red/Gold lines north of Arts Center. It's the red "Cumberland" line on that map. As you can see, I've given thought to lots of other potential MARTA routes including an extension from Cumberland as far as the Marietta Transfer Center/Southern Polytech.
MARTA Expansion - Google Maps

But I agree with not running it on the Atlanta-Vinings-Cumberland CSX line, CSX is already extremely busy over that route, and at best, the trains couldn't run more than twice an hour all day with more trains around the peak periods. Between Cumberland and Atlanta, MARTA Heavy Rail is really the better idea, and not following the CSX right of way. I do think that if commuter rail is ever run up CSX toward Marietta, there could be enough demand for a Midtown station between W. Marietta St. and Northside drive particularly since Georgia Tech is right there.

it's not so surprising that we'd come up with the same idea— i assume you've seen concept 3? we're all basically working off their plan as a starter with some differences here and there. i looked at your map and i like it. one thing we both had that i don't think the concept 3 had was a station at brookwood— and i think that's a fantastic idea; that building is historic, and once the multimodal terminal opens, that station is going to be closed. i think it would be a fantastic idea to rehabilitate it into a marta station, so it would still serve a purpose, possibly an even greater purpose than it had before, as a marta station. of course the building would have to be rehabilitated and the marta track going from the arts center station out towards cobb would have to be below the current track that is there.

a couple of other ideas that you had that we shared— the I-20 corridor and memorial drive, you had stations going out along memorial drive. i had an idea to connect the two corridors with a sort of heavy rail loop that would service lithonia, stone mountain, clarkston, redan, and scotdale around the farmer's market. i took the final I-20 corridor plan from marta and added some ideas to it. generally it runs along the heavy rail line that is already there since that's where the population is the most dense:

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...20379,0.445976

i had some stuff for the ga 400 line if you'd like to see it, but i believe i'm going to start a new thread for that.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Let's sell the naming rights to a company. That's a way to make money off public infrastructure. Maybe: Atlanta Central Terminal by Coca-Cola.

I actually don't mind this idea. Philly did this to one of their rapid transit stations, renaming it to the AT&T Station.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by dpatt.marine1

Do you think Cobb will ever accept rail transit in their county.

A number of us have no issues with rail at all. Most of the issues I've heard from people here in Cobb when the topic of rail is brought up are issues with MARTA as an organization, not rail transit itself.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

it's not so surprising that we'd come up with the same idea— i assume you've seen concept 3? we're all basically working off their plan as a starter with some differences here and there. i looked at your map and i like it. one thing we both had that i don't think the concept 3 had was a station at brookwood— and i think that's a fantastic idea; that building is historic, and once the multimodal terminal opens, that station is going to be closed. i think it would be a fantastic idea to rehabilitate it into a marta station, so it would still serve a purpose, possibly an even greater purpose than it had before, as a marta station. of course the building would have to be rehabilitated and the marta track going from the arts center station out towards cobb would have to be below the current track that is there.

a couple of other ideas that you had that we shared— the I-20 corridor and memorial drive, you had stations going out along memorial drive. i had an idea to connect the two corridors with a sort of heavy rail loop that would service lithonia, stone mountain, clarkston, redan, and scotdale around the farmer's market. i took the final I-20 corridor plan from marta and added some ideas to it. generally it runs along the heavy rail line that is already there since that's where the population is the most dense:

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...20379,0.445976

i had some stuff for the ga 400 line if you'd like to see it, but i believe i'm going to start a new thread for that.

Actually, I hadn't paid much attention to Concept 3, I just laid lines where I knew there to be a demand, and where I thought the population could support high density transit. But you're right, we should probably duck into another thread if we want to keep batting fantasy MARTA lines about :P

[cqholt]

Name is Terminal Station, in honor of the great station that was torn down in the 1970's.

Also, turning around the train is not necessary, just do what MARTA does at the end of the lines, have the driver walk from one end to another. Many large cities have more than one system that has local stops in the inner core. RER in Paris, The Overground in London, SEPTA in Philly, S-Bahns throughout Germany

Use the push-pull method with 1 loco and a control cab on the other end, Push.
I really think West Midtown would do better by being served by streetcar line, up Marietta Street connecting to the BeltLine and NW LRT line. That way user can get a street-level view of the shops, as in my MARTA plan: https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...3e9e7b1f&msa=0

[SEAandATL]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

A number of us have no issues with rail at all. Most of the issues I've heard from people here in Cobb when the topic of rail is brought up are issues with MARTA as an organization, not rail transit itself.

There are those few who still believe that rail transit brings crime into the peaceful suburbs. Anyhow, if private companies build the rail lines than I'm not sure if they need Cobb residents' approval or not.

[cqholt]

There are those few who still believe that rail transit brings crime into the peaceful suburbs.

I hope your being sarcastic? That is totally false, as the guy who robbed the Marathon gas station and was shot on I-75 yesterday, didn't take MARTA to Woodstock.

[SEAandATL]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I hope your being sarcastic? That is totally false, as the guy who robbed the Marathon gas station and was shot on I-75 yesterday, didn't take MARTA to Woodstock.

I know its not true, but there are some people who believe that. I mean can you imagine someone stealing a 50" TV and trying to get on MARTA?