MARTA eyeing major expansion up Georgia 400 corridor (Roswell, Alpharetta: property tax, restaurants)

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

I honestly don't see how the blue line can continue westbound west of 285. Sure they can extend it to the long-overdue MLK station, but after that, that freight rail corridor takes a sudden turn south. Now if the heavy rail line were to follow suit, it might make more sense.

It can follow the highway just like I-20 East or the Red Line extension will.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by MattCW

It can follow the highway just like I-20 East or the Red Line extension will.

Building transit lines along freeway corridors is not ideal, since there is a lot of congestion around interchanges.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Building transit lines along freeway corridors is not ideal, since there is a lot of congestion around interchanges.

So? The congestion is already there. If you build transit, it's just all headed to the station instead of the highway. You can also encourage high-density development around the interchanges so people can walk to the stations.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by MattCW

So? The congestion is already there. If you build transit, it's just all headed to the station instead of the highway. You can also encourage high-density development around the interchanges so people can walk to the stations.

I'd rather see stations located in town centers, downtowns, and major business districts.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I'd rather see stations located in town centers, downtowns, and major business districts.

i agree; this project (400 north) could be so much more if it served areas like downtown roswell, downtown alpharetta, and the verizon amphitheatre rather than just a bunch of freeway interchanges. unfortunately, MARTA is not going to do that; they say it costs too much.

it's a shame we have to build homes around our transit rather than build our transit around our homes.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i agree; this project (400 north) could be so much more if it served areas like downtown roswell, downtown alpharetta, and the verizon amphitheatre rather than just a bunch of freeway interchanges. unfortunately, MARTA is not going to do that; they say it costs too much.

it's a shame we have to build homes around our transit rather than build our transit around our homes.

That's the way it should be. Even in NYC the elevated portions were built before major development in anticipation. We should not spend billions of public funds to build transit lines to development, private developers should be encouraged by land uses to build near transit stations. Its the same argument about building a 1 station MARTA stub line to Turner Field, we should not spend millions to build a publicly-funded line to a private development, when the owners could up and move at the end of their lease.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I'd rather see stations located in town centers, downtowns, and major business districts.

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i agree; this project (400 north) could be so much more if it served areas like downtown roswell, downtown alpharetta, and the verizon amphitheatre rather than just a bunch of freeway interchanges. unfortunately, MARTA is not going to do that; they say it costs too much.

it's a shame we have to build homes around our transit rather than build our transit around our homes.

Would you rather wait 50 years until we can build the $10 Billion tunnels necessary to hit downtown Roswell and Alpharetta, or run the line by the highway for $2 Billion now? It might not be perfect, but we can run buses or streetcars off the trunk network into the downtown areas for minimal cost. Plus, there are already a lot of development nodes at the highway so why are they less deserving of service than the downtown areas especially when it's faster and cheaper to serve them?

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by MattCW

It can follow the highway just like I-20 East or the Red Line extension will.

A major problem is going to be ROW. Either the line would have to make sharp curves at both MLK/285 and 20/285, which is not good for HRT, or it would have to be elevated over MLK drive until it reaches I-20.

If it's South Cobb that you want to bring onto the MARTA network, I suggest making an HRT corridor through Mableton and Austell, next to the existing freight rail line there. That would disrupt far less of the existing ROW.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by MattCW

It can follow the highway just like I-20 East or the Red Line extension will.

Originally Posted by cqholt

Building transit lines along freeway corridors is not ideal, since there is a lot of congestion around interchanges.

Originally Posted by MattCW

So? The congestion is already there. If you build transit, it's just all headed to the station instead of the highway. You can also encourage high-density development around the interchanges so people can walk to the stations.

Originally Posted by cqholt

I'd rather see stations located in town centers, downtowns, and major business districts.

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i agree; this project (400 north) could be so much more if it served areas like downtown roswell, downtown alpharetta, and the verizon amphitheatre rather than just a bunch of freeway interchanges. unfortunately, MARTA is not going to do that; they say it costs too much.

it's a shame we have to build homes around our transit rather than build our transit around our homes.

These are all excellent points.

In the case of a future extension of the MARTA Blue Line, the best move would likely be to extend the Blue Line west along the right-of-way of Georgia Highway 139 to Mableton where there is a building push by area residents to redevelop the unincorporated area into a transit-oriented urban village. The Blue Line could then be extended further west along the NS/Southern Railroad ROW to the historic downtowns of Austell, Lithia Springs and Douglasville where community leaders desperately want to see their historic downtowns redeveloped to human-scale around high-capacity transit stations.

I also agree with bryant3 that an extension of the MARTA Red Line would be so much better if it served areas like Downtown Roswell, Downtown Alpharetta and the Verizon Amphitheatre rather than just the right-of-way of the Georgia 400 Freeway.

But the main reason that the MARTA Red Line is poised to be extended along the Georgia 400 North corridor is not only because of cost, but also because powerful real estate development interests in North Fulton County want the Red Line to serve North Point Mall and the new Avalon development at the NW corner of the Old Milton Parkway and GA 400 interchange.

There is also a substantial amount of undeveloped land available to be developed around the GA 400 and Windward Parkway interchange where the powers-that-be ultimately want the north terminus of the Red Line to be.

The proposed MARTA Red Line extension is not just about taking vehicular traffic off of a severely-congested and built-out GA 400 North roadway. The proposed MARTA Red Line extension is also about building more real estate development along a GA 400 corridor where there is still undeveloped land available to build on.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

In the case of a future extension of the MARTA Blue Line, the best move would likely be to extend the Blue Line west along the right-of-way of Georgia Highway 139 to Mableton where there is a building push by area residents to redevelop the unincorporated area into a transit-oriented urban village. The Blue Line could then be extended further west along the NS/Southern Railroad ROW to the historic downtowns of Austell, Lithia Springs and Douglasville where community leaders desperately want to see their historic downtowns redeveloped to human-scale around high-capacity transit stations.

Interesting. Got any links to this?

Mableton shouldn't be a problem here; there are some significant tracts of land just north of US 278 near Floyd road. But Austell is a different story. They would have to displace a lot of buildings to put in a MARTA station in "downtown" Austell.