Keith Parker: MARTA’s rail system ideally would be double its size

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by bu2

Until you get to 5 or 6 lanes in each direction, you can still expand. There is plenty of cushion in the GA-400 corridor north of 285.

The State of Georgia already has plans to expand GA 400 from I-285 north to about the North Springs MARTA Station with a few collector/distributor lanes on both directions of GA 400 as part of the project to rebuild the outmoded freeway interchange at I-285 and GA 400.

But north of the North Springs MARTA Station, GA 400 seems to be pretty much built-out with its current number of lanes and width because of the opposition to doing anything that would destroy those popular parkway-like tree buffers that are very-popular with both residents and motorists alike.

The tree buffers are extremely-popular with area residents who live along GA 400 because it enables them to look at a bunch of trees instead of having to look at a freeway.

The city governments of Sandy Springs, Roswell and Alpharetta have also expressed their opposition to any further expansion of GA 400 that would require the cutting of those popular tree buffers that GDOT gets much negative public feedback over anytime they even make very-minor cuts to or threaten to cut.

North of the North Springs MARTA Station, GA 400 has pretty much reached the political limits to which it can be expanded.

Originally Posted by bu2

It does make sense to preserve ROW for rail. But it doesn't make sense to build until you have the ridership. Just because you build it doesn't mean anyone will come. That is especially true for these light rail proposals that force everyone to transfer. Unless you get discretionary riders, these things are hard to justify. The slower and more complicated it is, the fewer discretionary riders.

With the stations on the North/Red Line already being some of the most heavily-used stations on the MARTA heavy rail system, and with GA 400 already carrying close to 174,000 vehicles each day while experiencing frequent traffic delays during daylight hours, the ridership is already there to expand MARTA north from the North Springs MARTA Station into an area of exploding developmental and population growth in North Fulton County...

...An area where the population and the amount of development continues to grow at a very-high rate while the road network stays about the same size.

In addition to the ridership already being there, the DEMAND is also there to expand the MARTA Red Line up GA 400 to the Windward Parkway area as the city governments of Roswell, Milton and (particularly) Alpharetta all support an extension of the line to make their cities more attractive for the construction of high property tax revenue-yielding large-scale commercial development and as a way to attract high-spending young professionals to their communities.

The city of Alpharetta in particular wants an expansion of the MARTA Red Line because Alpharetta wants to become a national hub for high-tech and life sciences jobs.

Originally Posted by bu2

It does make sense to preserve ROW for rail. But it doesn't make sense to build until you have the ridership. Just because you build it doesn't mean anyone will come. That is especially true for these light rail proposals that force everyone to transfer. Unless you get discretionary riders, these things are hard to justify. The slower and more complicated it is, the fewer discretionary riders.

I completely agree with your excellent point about the light rail proposals.

That proposed light rail line connecting Lindbergh to Emory should instead be a proposal for a heavily-used heavy rail line that is but only one small segment of a much-longer regional heavy rail line that connects the Atlanta Airport with the University of Georgia in Athens by way of:

...A huge-new revenue-generating high-density mixed-use transit-oriented development on the site of Fort MacPherson...

...The Atlanta University Center/West End area in Southwest Atlanta...

...The Georgia World Congress Center/new Falcons Stadium/Centennial Olympic Park area in Downtown Atlanta...

...The Georgia Tech campus/West Midtown/Marietta Street/Howell Mill Road corridor...

...Atlantic Station...an area which could generate much tax revenue for the ATL Airport-UGA Athens regional heavy rail transit line as a Tax Allocation District where a portion of the property and sales tax revenues go towards the operation of the regional heavy rail transit line...

...Historic Brookwood Station on Peachtree Street in the Brookwood/North Midtown/South Buckhead area...

...Emory University...

...The Northlake/Tucker area...

...The Lilburn area...

...Historic Downtown Lawrenceville and the campus at the emerging Georgia Gwinnett College...

...Downtown Winder, etc.

Originally Posted by bu2

And MARTA was built because Seattle rejected fed demonstration money. We got it paid for by others. That is no longer an option.

That's a good point that additional federally-controlled public money is not available to expand MARTA.

But getting transit expansions paid for by others is still very-much an option...

...With private money, using the publicly-owned pieces of prime real estate along major transit lines as a major lure for huge amounts of investment from both domestic and international private sources.

When utilized correctly, those prime pieces of real estate at and around transit stations can be a major (if not the major) revenue generator for a transit system.

The construction of large-scale high-density mixed-use transit-oriented development at and around transit stations and along transit lines generates revenues from:

...Real estate profits...

...Tax revenues (Tax Increment Financing...property tax revenues from new development along transit lines; Tax Allocation Districts...property tax revenues and sales tax revenues from both new and existing development along transit lines) and...

...Increased ridership which is generated from all of the new high-density development along transit lines which in turn also generates increased revenues from fares and sales tax revenues when those additional riders make purchases at the new development along transit lines.

We can also get an often tax increase-averse Metro Atlanta public to pay for an expanded transit system, NOT with politically-contentious and unpopular countywide tax increase referendums, but with distance-based fares (of about $0.20/mile in 2014 dollars) that charge much-less for short trips and slightly more for longer-distance trips.