Why not a Buford Highway streetcar? (Atlanta, Duluth: 2015, taxis, restaurant)

[ATLTJL]

So I was thinking....

Norcross, Duluth, and Suwanee are all perfectly connected via rail. They all have historic train depots and are right along the tracks, but Norfolk Southern will never allow commuter rail on those tracks for an affordable price.

But guess what else all these towns have in common? They're all right on, or within easy walking distance to, Buford Highway.

So what if we put a streetcar on Buford Highway? They are always talking about adding a median, slowing down the speed limit, etc....I say, don't put in a median, put in streetcar tracks. Do it where you would put in a median, giving the streetcar its own right of way. And you don't need a stop every mile, just have it stop in downtown Norcross, Duluth, and Suwanee...kind of like, commuter streetcar. Then, have it connect to MARTA so people could actually take it to work and intowners could easily come to these towns for festivals, etc.

If they wanted to, they could even extend the streetcar down Buford Highway all the way to Lindbergh. Why not? There are tons of people intown along Buford Highway that don't have cars that are always getting hit trying to cross the road. Why let all the private Latino taxi and bus companies down there make all the money, let them ride a public streetcar.

Well, that's what I think we should do!

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

So I was thinking....

Norcross, Duluth, and Suwanee are all perfectly connected via rail. They all have historic train depots and are right along the tracks, but Norfolk Southern will never allow commuter rail on those tracks for an affordable price.

But guess what else all these towns have in common? They're all right on, or within easy walking distance to, Buford Highway.

So what if we put a streetcar on Buford Highway? They are always talking about adding a median, slowing down the speed limit, etc....I say, don't put in a median, put in streetcar tracks. Do it where you would put in a median, giving the streetcar its own right of way. And you don't need a stop every mile, just have it stop in downtown Norcross, Duluth, and Suwanee...kind of like, commuter streetcar. Then, have it connect to MARTA so people could actually take it to work and intowners could easily come to these towns for festivals, etc.

If they wanted to, they could even extend the streetcar down Buford Highway all the way to Lindbergh. Why not? There are tons of people intown along Buford Highway that don't have cars that are always getting hit trying to cross the road. Why let all the private Latino taxi and bus companies down there make all the money, let them ride a public streetcar.

Well, that's what I think we should do!

I think Buford Hwy is the perfect corridor for BRT traveling in it's own lane; similar to the HealthLine in Cleveland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HealthLine

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

So I was thinking....

Norcross, Duluth, and Suwanee are all perfectly connected via rail. They all have historic train depots and are right along the tracks, but Norfolk Southern will never allow commuter rail on those tracks for an affordable price.

But guess what else all these towns have in common? They're all right on, or within easy walking distance to, Buford Highway.

So what if we put a streetcar on Buford Highway? They are always talking about adding a median, slowing down the speed limit, etc....I say, don't put in a median, put in streetcar tracks. Do it where you would put in a median, giving the streetcar its own right of way. And you don't need a stop every mile, just have it stop in downtown Norcross, Duluth, and Suwanee...kind of like, commuter streetcar. Then, have it connect to MARTA so people could actually take it to work and intowners could easily come to these towns for festivals, etc.

If they wanted to, they could even extend the streetcar down Buford Highway all the way to Lindbergh. Why not? There are tons of people intown along Buford Highway that don't have cars that are always getting hit trying to cross the road. Why let all the private Latino taxi and bus companies down there make all the money, let them ride a public streetcar.

Well, that's what I think we should do!

Well, we might actually have a better chance of getting Commuter rail on that route than nearly any other in the city. Assuming this map still holds true, you'll notice that the Noth-East corner of the city isn't all that busy, even compared to the Clayton High-Capacity Transit corridor that MARTA and NS are studying currently. Depending on how NS cooperates with Clayton, MARTA may have grounds to extend Commuter rail service North, assuming Gwinnett is game.

As for streetcars, I wouldn't suggest them. What you're probably looking for is light rail. It might seem like arguing semantics, but it's kinda important here. Streetcars run in the roadway, have close-packed stops, and work best when there's high density. Light rail can have much more spaced out stops and runs in its own dedicated corridor (which would be necessary for Buford HWY), acting a bit more like a commuter train.

As was already mentioned, for the lower-density, but higher ridership areas of Buford Hwy, BRT would probably be more than enough to handle the volume on its own, and would probably fit the hills of Buford Highway, at least closer intown, much better than streetcars would. As in, the vehicles would probably handle them better.

[ATLTJL]

Why not this?

SkyTran's air taxis to debut in Israel. U.S. could be next. - Oct. 23, 2015

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Why not this?

SkyTran's air taxis to debut in Israel. U.S. could be next. - Oct. 23, 2015

Why not use the existing roadway and run high frequency bus? It's cheaper and is the most efficient use of our minimal transportation funds.

[primaltech]

Streetcar, no. Especially since Buford Highway is not in Atlanta city limits, where the streetcar's territory will be.

BRT, heck yeah. Especially once Gwinnett joins MARTA. Let's do a Healthline-style dedicated lanes BRT, that runs along Buford Highway (and Sidney Marcus), from Lindbergh Station, all the way up to Duluth, or even the Suwanee Town Center. And it would connect with a new MARTA Gold line station at Amwiler Rd.

It really is perfect for it, with how straight of a road it is, and how it runs through restaurant districts and city downtowns.

[primaltech]

A lot of the stations along the way could be little mini park & rides for communities in Gwinnett. It would nicely connect the entire western half of Gwinnett into the Lindbergh hub station.

It would spur a ton of TOD. Really would be so awesome and worth it, for the relatively low cost. A BRT would have the best impact vs. cost, as opposed to light rail.

[Gulch]

As long as it serves as a complment to the MARTA Gold Line (and extension into Gwinnett), I could see a BRT/LRT line work well.

[ATLTJL]

Why not use the existing roadway and run high frequency bus? It's cheaper and is the most efficient use of our minimal transportation funds.

Yep, that would make the most sense.

But what it ignores, unfortunately, is human psychology. It's just not sexy.

And if there's one thing we've learned in Atlanta, I think it's that no matter what you do, no matter how you dress it up, no matter how hard you try.....ain't nobody wanna ride a bus.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Yep, that would make the most sense.

But what it ignores, unfortunately, is human psychology. It's just not sexy.

And if there's one thing we've learned in Atlanta, I think it's that no matter what you do, no matter how you dress it up, no matter how hard you try.....ain't nobody wanna ride a bus.

The 39, current bus route, is one of the busiest in the system and most frequent. The ridership exist, making it BRT would attract more demand riders.