Athens commuter rail (tax, gas, venue)

[abalashov]

I can see it as a real commuting tool, too. Lots of people from Athens need to get to the airport all the time. There are a fair amount of people based in Athens who make the grueling trek (by car) several times per week to teach part time at Atlanta universities, some of which are accessible via MARTA. Surprisingly, there's a fair amount of student couples where one is at Emory or GA State and the other at UGA. Lots of unnecessary constant trips up and down 316. There are lots of people living as far out as Bogart or Statham but working in Atlanta. And, of course, tons of students from Atlanta-based households who spend weekends or holidays with their folks.

Without the stop lights and assuming a sustained speed of 80 MPH+, I'd expect the train ride to be about an hour. As it stands, door-to-door for me from Piedmont Park area to downtown Athens is around 1h15m by car.

[abalashov]

To the naysayers: I think if you polled everyone who currently spends half their life on 316 - and that's a lot of people (for a time, I was one of them) - you'd get near-universal commitment to using the train, signed in triplicate.

That is, of course, provided that it's implemented in a useful manner. If one terminus is a parking lot somewhere off Peachtree Industrial and the other is a highway exit near Bethlehem... I jest, but do, I really? A lot of transit in the Atlanta, and all throughout the southeast, is like that.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by abalashov

Without the stop lights and assuming a sustained speed of 80 MPH+, I'd expect the train ride to be about an hour. As it stands, door-to-door for me from Piedmont Park area to downtown Athens is around 1h15m by car.

The high-speed rail study gave the travel time to be ~1hr to ~50min for both the local and semi-express trains to get from downtown to Athens, including boarding times.

[abalashov]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

The high-speed rail study gave the travel time to be ~1hr to ~50min for both the local and semi-express trains to get from downtown to Athens, including boarding times.

Yeah, that sounds about right. And that would make it very competitive with driving, despite the additional overhead of getting to/from on both sides.

[skbl17]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

Of all longer range trains, this one makes the most sense. I think it would get plenty of traffic and it really would help boost UGA. There are so many students, especially from out of the country, that don't drive or don't have cars. Having that connection ultimately to the airport is huge. Throw in visiting professors, researchers, etc that have a connection to the airport and it really helps. Add the needed commuter rail for Gwinnett (and farther) then throw in commuters to Athens THEN throw in the possibility of UGA students potentially doing part time work/internships in Atlanta and it just makes sense.

<tech>
Boost uga? Oh, this is a horrible idea then, why would I want to boost uga?
</tech>

I'm still trying to wrap my head around why this hasn't happened yet. A solid alternative to US 78/GA 316, improved commuting, easy connection between many of our major universities (UGA, Emory, GT, and maybe GSU if this ends up at Schroedinger's Stati-I mean MMPT), game day fun, and probably other benefits I'm missing that other users have probably explained a lot better than I can.

Honestly, between this and the Lovejoy (Macon) line, I'd try to get both built at the same time. Obviously MARTA wouldn't be able to run the Athens line past Tucker (or Dacula if the Gwinnett County Commission can allow a MARTA vote,) but that's what GRTA's for.

- skbl17

[abalashov]

Well, because it's the south, and as someone else said, on the whole the region is stuck in an Eisenhower-era worldview. Georgians attach no particular value to anything that isn't driving, while the rest of the world, developed and developing, passes us by.

[MattCW]

One correction. Any Athens route is going to go east from Atlanta along the ex-Georgia railroad, then cut north on what CSX calls the parkline, or Inman Park belt, along the east side of Emory, joining the main line just to the northeast of the Emory campus. The other route through Emory, Armour and along the west side goes right through the heart of the extremely-busy Howell Junction against the flows (to/from the yards) at-grade. Until that junction is rebuilt with flyovers, there is no way any Gwinnett/Athens traffic is going anywhere but along the beltline and parkline respectively. We can throw around big huge pie-in-the-sky ideas all the want, but at the end of the day, the practical solution will ALWAYS win out. We can either spend $500 Million+ along with the $300 Million for Athens commuter rail to take it through Howell in 20 years, or we can spend the $300 Million for Athens commuter in 5 years and take it along the east side of Emory.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

The high-speed rail study gave the travel time to be ~1hr to ~50min for both the local and semi-express trains to get from downtown to Athens, including boarding times.

Shoot, from my house between Lville and Snellville it takes me right at 50 minutes to get to the UGA exits and that's with no backups at lights, the Sugarloaf Pkway extension and 316. That's a great travel time. My train ride from Lancaster PA to Philly is a little over an hour with multiple stops and it feels like a breeze. Assuming the train is as comfy and not hard plastic, it could really work.

[abalashov]

Matt,

Originally Posted by MattCW

One correction. Any Athens route is going to go east from Atlanta along the ex-Georgia railroad, then cut north on what CSX calls the parkline, or Inman Park belt, along the east side of Emory, joining the main line just to the northeast of the Emory campus. The other route through Emory, Armour and along the west side goes right through the heart of the extremely-busy Howell Junction against the flows (to/from the yards) at-grade. Until that junction is rebuilt with flyovers, there is no way any Gwinnett/Athens traffic is going anywhere but along the beltline and parkline respectively. We can throw around big huge pie-in-the-sky ideas all the want, but at the end of the day, the practical solution will ALWAYS win out. We can either spend $500 Million+ along with the $300 Million for Athens commuter rail to take it through Howell in 20 years, or we can spend the $300 Million for Athens commuter in 5 years and take it along the east side of Emory.

Does this mean the route can be terminated reasonably close to the East Lake MARTA station?

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by abalashov

Matt,



Does this mean the route can be terminated reasonably close to the East Lake MARTA station?

More like, two different routings into the Gulch / MMPT. The studies have the route terminating at HJIA.