Will CCT ever build a rail system? (Atlanta, Roswell: sales, leases)

[Psykomonkee]

Light Rail, Monorail or Heavy Rail?
Will CCT ever build ANY kind of rail system?

[BeyondInfinity]

Short answer.............Hell No! Cobb is too conservative.

[UrbanConquistador]

Originally Posted by Psykomonkee

Light Rail, Monorail or Heavy Rail?
Will CCT ever build ANY kind of rail system?

Cobb county has continiously voted down MARTA. MARTA was even built with a northwest line in mind.

"MARTA was built with at least two stubs for rail lines which were never built. The Northwest Line towards Cobb County has a stub tunnel east of Atlantic Station"Marta Wiki

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Psykomonkee

Light Rail, Monorail or Heavy Rail?
Will CCT ever build ANY kind of rail system?

...Man do you come up with some darned good questions! Keep up the good work.

Cobb Community Transit likely may not necessarily build a passenger rail transit system on its own.

But the State of Georgia likely will at sometime in the future build a passenger rail transit system between the Atlanta Airport and Downtown Chattanooga along the historic Western & Atlantic rail right-of-way which it owns but leases out to CSX Transportation for freight rail operations on a current 33-year deal that expires on December 31, 2019.

The Western & Atlantic rail right-of-way is key because it connects Cobb County directly to the busiest airport on the planet at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The Western & Atlantic rail right-of-way is also key because it runs directly through the historic downtowns of Vinings, Smyrna, Marietta, Kennesaw and Acworth in Cobb County.

After leaving Cobb County to the north, the historic W&A rail right-of-way runs directly through the historic downtowns of Emerson, Cartersville, Kingston and Adairsville in Bartow County, Calhoun and Resaca in Gordon County, the industrial city of Dalton and Tunnel Hill in Whitfield County and Ringgold in Catoosa County before crossing over into Tennessee.

The historic W&A rail right-of-way also runs directly and immediately past the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport terminal (an airport that has often been mentioned as being made into a reliever airport for Hartsfield-Jackson with a direct high-speed passenger rail link to the Atlanta Airport) before running around the north end of Missionary Ridge and ending in Downtown Chattanooga.

Combination regional heavy rail/commuter rail transit service will likely be implemented within the Western & Atlantic right-of-way (on grade-separated heavy rail tracks that are separate from the existing freight rail tracks) between the Atlanta Airport and Cartersville.

Regional heavy rail transit stops in Cobb County will be located in Vinings Village, at Cumberland Mall (near where the bus stop now sits on Cumberland Blvd directly across from Cumberland Mall), in Downtown Smyrna, in Downtown Marietta near Marietta Square, in Downtown Kennesaw and in Downtown Acworth.

The west leg of a regional heavy rail transit line that runs between Acworth and Buford by way of the often severely-congested and desperately transit-hungry I-285 Top End Corridor will also operate within the W&A right-of-way between Cumberland Mall and Downtown Acworth.

Regional commuter rail/express train service will serve the rest of the area along the W&A right-of-way between Downtown Cartersville and Downtown Chattanooga (likely on some kind of expanded trackage where high-frequency passenger rail trains are kept separate from high-frequency freight rail trains).

Seeing as though the City of Marietta and the Cobb County government seem to have an intense interest in turning Cobb Parkway into an urban boulevard over the long-term as evidenced by how the county tried at one point to obtain funding for a light rail line along Cobb Parkway from the failed T-SPLOST, Cobb County may likely at some point in the future attempt to implement some type of light rail service along Cobb Parkway between the Cumberland Mall and Kennesaw areas.

Though the county would likely be wise to maybe build up and develop a very-high level of bus ridership along Cobb Parkway in the shorter term before attempting to implement light rail service on that corridor over the long-term.

A spur combination regional heavy rail/commuter rail transit line will also operate between the Atlanta Airport and the town of Blue Ridge in the North Georgia Mountains within the Georgia Northeastern Railroad (GNRR) spur rail right-of-way that runs parallel to Interstate 575/Georgia Highway 515 between Marietta and Blue Ridge.

Regional heavy rail transit service will operate between the Atlanta Airport and Downtown Canton, and regional commuter rail transit service will operate between the Atlanta Airport and Blue Ridge.

Cobb County stations on the combination regional heavy rail/commuter rail transit line in the right-of-way of the I-575 paralleling GNRR will likely include a stop in the Elizabeth industrial area of Marietta near Old Canton Road & Cobb Parkway (stop will serve Wellstar Kennestone Hospital with a shuttle link), a stop near Sandy Plains & Old Canton Roads, a stop at Piedmont & Canton Roads, a stop in the Blackwells area near New Chastain & Canton Roads, and a stop in the Noonday area near Shallowford & Canton Roads.

Interurban passenger rail service could eventually operate beyond Blue Ridge, GA up to Knoxville, TN and Asheville, NC to serve the popular recreational and resort tourism areas of Eastern Tennessee and Southwestern North Carolina, but the absolute first priority will be a high-frequency passenger rail link to relieve heavy traffic off of severely-congested Interstates 75 & 575 between Atlanta and Canton.

Combination regional heavy rail/commuter rail service will also likely operate within the NorfolK Southern right-of-ways that run through the south end of Cobb County to relieve severe traffic congestion pressure on Interstate 20 and Georgia Highway 6 in West Metro Atlanta with stops in the South Cobb County areas of Mableton, Austell and Powder Springs.

A regional heavy rail line that follows under Georgia Highway 120 through the closer-in North Metro Atlanta suburbs between Marietta and Lawrenceville (by way of Roswell, Alpharetta and Duluth) is also possible over the long-term given the inability and lack of desire to expand the road infrastructure to accommodate the continued very high rates of population growth in the area.

Originally Posted by BeyondInfinity

Short answer.............Hell No! Cobb is too conservative.

...Cobb County may be dominated by conservatives, but the county's population is also growing at an alarming rate that has far outstripped the ability and desire of local and state government to add new road capacity to keep up with the population growth.

This inability (and lack of desire) of local and state government to add much more road capacity to keep up with the continued high rate of population growth means that implementing and expanding transit infrastructure will be a necessity.

Plus, despite the ultraconservative and often anti-transit bent historically displayed in the county's politics, support for a large-scale transit upgrade and expansion is rapidly-growing and has the support of many Republican politicians within Cobb County because of the county's continued increasingly severe traffic congestion.

Large-scale transit upgrades and expansion also has the support of mayors in Smyrna, Kennesaw and Acworth who wish to use a large-scale rail transit expansion in the county as a means of continuing the development of their historic suburban downtowns into village-like settings that appeal to tourists and young professionals.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Frankster87

Cobb county has continiously voted down MARTA. MARTA was even built with a northwest line in mind.

"MARTA was built with at least two stubs for rail lines which were never built. The Northwest Line towards Cobb County has a stub tunnel east of Atlantic Station"Marta Wiki

...If (or more like when at this point) passenger rail transit service is expanded into and implemented in Cobb County it will way more than likely NOT be operated by MARTA as we currently know it.

That's because MARTA as we know it is in a state of severe decline and moves closer to financial collapse with each passing year and is just simply financially unable to expand at this point and will likely not be around much longer in its current form.

Also, as you mention, Cobb County would likely never vote to pay a 1% sales tax to join a severely-declining and intensely-troubled transit agency from which the county is likely never to receive service anytime soon, if ever.

If (when) passenger rail transit service is expanded into and implemented in Cobb County, one can be assured that MARTA absolutely will not be the operator, nor should it be.

Any passenger rail transit service that is implemented in Cobb County will likely be operated by the State of Georgia, Cobb County itself, a private entity or even combination of the three.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by BeyondInfinity

Short answer.............Hell No! Cobb is too conservative.

However, Cobb's own research shows that a majority of residents are in favor of a rail system.

http://dot.cobbcountyga.gov/ConnectC...inedSurvey.pdf

Question:
Local officials are considering several possible ways to improve transportation back and forth
between Cobb County and the Arts Center MARTA station in the City of Atlanta. One way is
adding a new form of public transportation.

5. One option would be adding light rail transit, which means laying down tracks
for passenger trains that could run along highways and on streets between Cobb County and
the Arts Center MARTA station in Midtown Atlanta. Another possible option would be bus
rapid transit, which means adding lanes to highways that can be used by passenger buses
between Cobb County and the Arts Center MARTA station in Midtown Atlanta. If cost was
not a factor, which would you prefer to see in place: light rail transit, or bus transit?

Response:

Train–Much 57% .................................................. . .................................................. ...........
Train–Somewhat 4% .................................................. .................................................. .....
Bus–Much 15% .................................................. .................................................. ...............
Bus–Somewhat 2% .................................................. .................................................. ........
Both (volunteered response) 7% .................................................. .............................................
Neither (volunteered response) 12% .................................................. ......................................
It depends (volunteered response) 3% .................................................. .....................................
Don’t know/Refused 0%

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

removed

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.

[erick295]

I think it's a lot more likely they'll just allow MARTA for commuters to use. What would a place like Cobb do with its own rail system? The majority of the county has shopping centers with parking lots the size of entire neighborhoods. It's nearly impossible to get around without a car.

[#1MARTAFan]

Originally Posted by Frankster87

Cobb county has continiously voted down MARTA. MARTA was even built with a northwest line in mind.

Your statement is very misleading.

How many votes have there been and when was the last vote?


I'll hang up and listen...

[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.