Connect 400 (Proposed MARTA rail) meeting on 21 March!

[NY2ATL2NY]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

the reason it goes off of 400 is twofold— first, for the stations at medical center, perimeter mall (dunwoody station) and mount vernon (sandy springs station), this was the primary reason. secondly to avoid the 285/400 interchange, having a subway go through there would've been a mess. but yeah, the original plan before they decided to expand 400 was to run the line up the centre of the roadway.

Ok I Understand those points about The stops you mentioned And they make perfect sense I meant After those stops it shouldve Resumed a route back to te median by North springs As north of there there isnt anymore Tricky intersections or landmarks to directly serve feel me.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by NY2ATL2NY

If The Guys down at MARTA had better Vision They wouldve Kept the Concept of Running the Line in the median Like at Buckhead...Dont know why the line was moved out of the center by the end at North Springs. It couldve simply ended in the median with a Bridge connecting to the park n ride lot in its current spot.Also they couldve just lef the space in between the lanes All the way to the end of 400 in Anticipation of Further extensions north..Seems is would be cheaper this way..And you get to zoom past all the Folks sittin in rush hour traffic!

I can give you a quick easy answer to that. History.

GA 400 north of I-285 predates GA 400 inside 285.

The part was easy to build in the areas that was undeveloped, but it was more expensive and had public resistance inside I-285.

Building rail with the freeway was part of the deal to build Ga 400 to I-85.

The northern portion was designed and constructed started around 20 years earlier.

At that point in time MARTA didn't exist and trains wouldn't exist for about another 8 or 9 years and it was the state DOT that designed the road and it was mostly rural, but poised for suburban growth.

[NY2ATL2NY]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

I can give you a quick easy answer to that. History.

GA 400 north of I-285 predates GA 400 inside 285.

The part was easy to build in the areas that was undeveloped, but it was more expensive and had public resistance inside I-285.

Building rail with the freeway was part of the deal to build Ga 400 to I-85.

The northern portion was designed and constructed started around 20 years earlier.

At that point in time MARTA didn't exist and trains wouldn't exist for about another 8 or 9 years and it was the state DOT that designed the road and it was mostly rural, but poised for suburban growth.

Ooohhhhhh Very Good...I didnt Know That! Thought The whole Ga400 was built at once....So I see exacty why things are the way they are...But you do say it "was poised for suburban Growth" well with that in mind It wouldve been a wise an Nice if they designed the highway with Trains in mind. It wouldve been sooo much easier back then with all the Undeveloped land..Just a nice extra wide Path From 285 to Cumming.

[cqholt]

Ok I Understand those points about The stops you mentioned And they make perfect sense I meant After those stops it shouldve Resumed a route back to te median by North springs As north of there there isnt anymore Tricky intersections or landmarks to directly serve feel me.

MARTA's director of planning told me he prefers stations not to be in the median of freeways as it adds to congestion at the interchanges.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by cqholt

MARTA's director of planning told me he prefers stations not to be in the median of freeways as it adds to congestion at the interchanges.

Indeed they would. Also, it would require a lot more redoing of existing lanes.

[tikigod311]

And they are just generally unpleasant. Buckhead station isn't too bad. But I have been to some in other cities where it what so loud you couldn't even think.

[ajjam]

I still don't get why they even call it MARTA?? Metropolitan suggests that it goes throughout the Metro. Immediate Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority fits much better. I still hate the fact that Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton voted against this system back in the 70s?.... Can you all imagine how much better this REGION (therefore this STATE) would be if Atlanta had a better more progressive thinking population then? I saw on the news last night that Gwinnett wants to add more HOT lanes on 85!! Yes that is just what we need!! Bigger freeways that will be just as congested. Sheesh we are approaching 6 million people yet have the public transportation to support a city Charlotte's size!! How embarrassing!!

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by ajjam

I still don't get why they even call it MARTA?? Metropolitan suggests that it goes throughout the Metro. Immediate Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority fits much better. I still hate the fact that Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton voted against this system back in the 70s?.... Can you all imagine how much better this REGION (therefore this STATE) would be if Atlanta had a better more progressive thinking population then? I saw on the news last night that Gwinnett wants to add more HOT lanes on 85!! Yes that is just what we need!! Bigger freeways that will be just as congested. Sheesh we are approaching 6 million people yet have the public transportation to support a city Charlotte's size!! How embarrassing!!

Well back then most of the Metro was Dekalb and Fulton. Most suburbanites lived in Dekalb.

The Bellsouth Building and the Bank of America Building were built to be easy access to Ponce to get commuters from central Dekalb.

As for the HOT lanes, don't forget it is one of the largest transit programs going on in Gwinnett at the moment.

Enough people are using the commuter buses on that corridor it is close to be the same as an extra lane of freeway at the 2 hour peak of rush hour. Better yet it pulls individuals traveling longer distances leaving more room for those traveling medium distances.

Also, if we are going to talk about progressiveness of the population... Dekalb use to be worse, despite voting in MARTA. They didn't do as much to build a county arterial road system. They saw it as unnecessary costs. Most of the through routes in the county's arterial road system are pre-existing rural routes and mostly state funded and controlled routes. They also purposely didn't like their roads to neighbors much.

Then to make matters worse zoning practices from the 50s-80s would just plop businesses and apartments on those state roads with no restrictions to how it affected traffic and how residents would interact with the road and few if any supporting collector streets. (This is ultimately the problem on Buford Highway with so many apartments a long the roadway and pedestrians. There was no planning whatsoever to how it was developed.)

So Dekalb of all places depends on the freeways not just to get outsiders through their county, but to bolster their own arterial roads.

On the other side to this the City of Atlanta and Gwinnett County developed a larger city/county built arterial road system, more collectors. For inside the county driving we they don't depend on an interstate near as much.

Admittedly, to be fair, all of this is more of trend of the time things were built.

At the end of the day we have to remember different counties have been progressive, but in very different ways.

[ajjam]

Awesome response...I'm guessing you are a native

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by ajjam

Awesome response...I'm guessing you are a native

haha, yep. 4+ generations.