Will CCT ever build a rail system? (Atlanta, Roswell: transfer, university)

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

Cobb was built around a car-centric model. A rail system wouldn't make sense as its bus system barely works there given the lack of density. The only thing that would make sense in rail is a Northwest line either as an extension of MARTA as originally planned or a line connecting to MARTA.

You've obviously never ridden Route 10...any time. The route between Arts Center and a good ways up Cobb Parkway past Cumberland is PACKED! Heavy rail at least as far as Cumberland, and Commuter Rail up to Acworth would do very well.

[westau]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

Cobb was built around a car-centric model. A rail system wouldn't make sense as its bus system barely works there given the lack of density. The only thing that would make sense in rail is a Northwest line either as an extension of MARTA as originally planned or a line connecting to MARTA.

Just for the record Cobb County is about 10% more dense overall than Fulton County...

[Psykomonkee]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

I can't believe this was asked.

Ummm. The question has been asked before, AND proposed in real world.

http://dot.cobbcountyga.gov/Planning...T_May_2010.pdf

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by arjay57

As the saying goes, this ain't your grandpa's Cobb county.

Back when the MARTA vote was taken, Cobb had under 200,000 people and was similar to Cherokee county today.

We can fuss at Cobb for not joining MARTA but with a density of around 500 folks per square mile, heavy rail mass transit simply made no sense for them whatsoever.

Nowadays more Cobbians can see the benefit of transit. So I am not surprised to see that a majority are in favor of rail.

...Those are EXCELLENT points! Cobb County was such a dramatically DIFFERENT place when the MARTA vote was taken back in the 1960's.

Heck, not only was Cobb County similar to what Cherokee County is today, but Cobb County was likely similar to Cherokee County about 10-15 years ago when Cobb voted to decline joining MARTA back nearly 50 years ago in the 1960's.

That's because whites made up over 95% of the population of Cobb County when the county voted to not participate in MARTA in 1965, fast forward nearly 50 YEARS to today and minorities make up 44% of the population of Cobb County.

Plus, with a current population of about 708,000 people, increasingly-urban Cobb County has nearly 5 times more residents (and nearly 5 times more population density) than it did nearly 50 years ago when the then-predominantly white and still mostly-rural almost exurban county voted to decline joining MARTA in 1965.

A majority of Cobb County residents see the benefit of rail transit because of the horrific traffic they deal with (and sit in) every workday (and sometimes on weekends) on major roads like I-20, I-285, I-75, US 41 (Cobb Parkway), GA 280 (South Cobb Parkway), US 278/GA 6 (Thornton Rd/C.H. James Parkway), GA 120 (Dallas Highway) and the like.

It is because of the continued population growth in Cobb and neighboring Paulding (145,000), Bartow (100,000) and Cherokee (221,000) counties and counties beyond that traffic has grown so much in intensity and severity on roads that pass through the county like I-75, I-575 and GA 6.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by MattCW

You've obviously never ridden Route 10...any time. The route between Arts Center and a good ways up Cobb Parkway past Cumberland is PACKED! Heavy rail at least as far as Cumberland, and Commuter Rail up to Acworth would do very well.

Actually, I have. Still too sparse and not walkable. It's fine for commuter rail between Atlanta and Cobb but Cobb is more for a car culture.

[MathmanMathman]

Originally Posted by westau

Just for the record Cobb County is about 10% more dense overall than Fulton County...

Yeah and Fulton County stretches out about 60 miles. Probably a misleading stat.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

Cobb was built around a car-centric model. A rail system wouldn't make sense as its bus system barely works there given the lack of density. The only thing that would make sense in rail is a Northwest line either as an extension of MARTA as originally planned or a line connecting to MARTA.

...You make an excellent point as Cobb, like every other Atlanta suburb and suburbs of most every other U.S. city built after World War II, was built around a car-centric model.

The problem is that both the continued fast-growing Cobb County (county has grown by 58% since 1990) and the fast-growing Greater Atlanta region (110% population growth since 1990) don't have the road infrastructure to sustain being dependent exclusively upon the car-centric model.

This is particularly evident during morning and evening rush hours when many major roads in the county turn into parking lots, especially if there are accidents or even very-light rain.

It's like a county of over 700,000 people trying to use a road infrastructure that was only built for a population of 350,000.

Originally Posted by MattCW

You've obviously never ridden Route 10...any time. The route between Arts Center and a good ways up Cobb Parkway past Cumberland is PACKED! Heavy rail at least as far as Cumberland, and Commuter Rail up to Acworth would do very well.

...From what I understand, CCT Route 10 is the most popular bus route in the CCT system and one of the most popular bus routes in all of Metro Atlanta.

This was a point that was repeatedly made during the lead-up to the failure of the T-SPLOST in 2012 when Cobb County officials were lobbying for Cobb County's portion of T-SPLOST funds to be used to build a light rail line between Midtown and Cumberland Mall.

[alco89]

Originally Posted by westau

Just for the record Cobb County is about 10% more dense overall than Fulton County...

Originally Posted by MathmanMathman

Yeah and Fulton County stretches out about 60 miles. Probably a misleading stat.

Yeeeeaaa, there are VAST swaths of Fulton County that are sparsely populated, but they're WAY OUT...20-30 miles southwest of downtown.

[cqholt]

I could see LRT running along the 41 corridor to Town Center and/or KSU from a major multi-modal transfer station at Cumberland. I think that corridor could have the density to support LRT with the line detouring thru historic Marietta Town Square.
Cumberland Transfer Station is the key. Riders could transfer to an eventual rail-based transit line along the top-end-perimeter or continue south along the I-75 corridor to the major employment centers of Downtown and Midtown.
I think that extending the Green Line from Bankhead to Cumberland would be the best option for transit from Atlanta to Cumberland.
Unfortunately, until MARTA gets its finances in order, which Keith Parker seems to be getting the agency on the right track, or the state dissolves all county-wide transit agencies and forms a REAL metro-wide transit agency a rail-based transit connection from Cobb County to MARTA served counties will not happen.

[#1MARTAFan]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I could see LRT running along the 41 corridor to Town Center and/or KSU from a major multi-modal transfer station at Cumberland. I think that corridor could have the density to support LRT with the line detouring thru historic Marietta Town Square.
Cumberland Transfer Station is the key. Riders could transfer to an eventual rail-based transit line along the top-end-perimeter or continue south along the I-75 corridor to the major employment centers of Downtown and Midtown.
I think that extending the Green Line from Bankhead to Cumberland would be the best option for transit from Atlanta to Cumberland.
Unfortunately, until MARTA gets its finances in order, which Keith Parker seems to be getting the agency on the right track, or the state dissolves all county-wide transit agencies and forms a REAL metro-wide transit agency a rail-based transit connection from Cobb County to MARTA served counties will not happen.

Bankhead makes sense on paper, but makes little sense in reality. You want a transfer at cumberland and a transfer at 5 points to get to midtown? That is a recipe for failure and low ridership.