MARTA Westside Line (rail, stations, transit)

[cqholt]

I'd rather see a BRT running along northside with its own lane between arts center and Vine city station.

[aries4118]

This has been proposed before. Nothing new here.


And it's good (except for a few minor tweaks that I would recommend).

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Ha-Mez

I live in the area. The big residential development is happening on Howell Mill, not Northside, and the Brady Avenue Bus Facility is at the intersection of Brady and Howell Mill. There's also a relatively steep incline on Tenth between Northside and Howell Mill. Also, a station at Northside would be just as inaccessible to those living west of the tracks as a station at Brady.

They figure stations service about a quarter mile radius. With Brady you get nothing from the west half of that circle. Northside still has things in every direction within a quarter mile. The rr tracks are further than that.

[bryantm3]

i came up with this a few years ago; i just didn't have the pretty graphics. i based it off the concept 3 map that the ARC came up with, so it's originally their idea with some changes.

regardless of whose idea it is, i think it should already be in the planning stages at MARTA. they're choosing to completely ignore the intown need for transit and hope that the beltline, when developed, will suffice.

[Ha-Mez]

Originally Posted by bu2

They figure stations service about a quarter mile radius. With Brady you get nothing from the west half of that circle. Northside still has things in every direction within a quarter mile. The rr tracks are further than that.

Fair enough. However, I fear what a new MARTA station at 10th and Northside would do to property values here in Home Park. I feel that this area should remain cheap housing for GT students.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Ha-Mez

Fair enough. However, I fear what a new MARTA station at 10th and Northside would do to property values here in Home Park. I feel that this area should remain cheap housing for GT students.

You can't do transit in a vacuum. Issues like that need to be considered.

[J2201987]

Originally Posted by aries4118

This has been proposed before. Nothing new here.

I was just thinking that. Wasn't the original plan to follow all the NS/CSX tracks for the metro's rail transit?:


At any rate....

Like many of these fantasy maps if it was able to jump over the environment impact studies and NIMBYism hurdles it would seem doable, the ultimate issue would be who's going to pay for it.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by J2201987

Like many of these fantasy maps if it was able to jump over the environment impact studies and NIMBYism hurdles it would seem doable, the ultimate issue would be who's going to pay for it.

An EIS wasn't required for projects until the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in 1970.

[bryantm3]

other states like those in the northeast, don't seem to have a problem funding the initial capital projects; they get plenty of funding from the federal government and the state government. it's only here in georgia where we can't get the cash to build these projects, and it's a problem we have created. there is plenty of money in the state transportation budget to fund these projects, it's just that our state government feels it is more important to fund roads, even when they are not needed.

[evannole]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

other states like those in the northeast, don't seem to have a problem funding the initial capital projects; they get plenty of funding from the federal government and the state government. it's only here in georgia where we can't get the cash to build these projects, and it's a problem we have created. there is plenty of money in the state transportation budget to fund these projects, it's just that our state government feels it is more important to fund roads, even when they are not needed.

I'm not so sure that this is true. We need both transit and roads, and both are hugely underfunded, particularly in metro ATL. I've seen any number of studies documenting that Georgia is near the bottom, or even dead last, in both highway spending per mile and highway spending per capita.

I'm very much in favor of large-scale expansion of our transit system, but to think that this alone will alleviate our congestion problems is fantasy. Our highway network is and will continue to be woefully inadequate if it does not receive additional investment, regardless of what happens with the transit system.