Transit to the Beltline gets a big boost

One of MARTA’s new infill stations would be located on the heavy-rail East Line, above the Krog Street Tunnel.
Image courtesy of Lee Coursey/Wikimedia Commons

Transit to the Atlanta Beltline is finally getting some love.

Over the last month, Mayor Andre Dickens has proposed six new transit links to the Beltline trail that would dramatically increase access for Atlanta residents who don’t live near the 22-mile circuit. It also would bolster the vision of the Beltline as a “last-mile” transportation corridor, where pedestrians, cyclists and others travel to and from the transit crossings.

In his State of the City Address on March 25, Dickens announced the first of the proposed links – a MARTA heavy-rail infill station at Murphy Crossing. Then, last week, in an administrative order, the mayor identified “ideal candidates” for the three other infill stations: Armour Yard, Joseph E. Boone Boulevard and Krog Street. All four  locations are along the Beltline.

In the same order, he directed his chief operating officer to work with MARTA and Atlanta Beltline Inc. to plan a 10-mile crosstown bus rapid transit route along North Avenue and Hollowell Parkway. The crosstown BRT would bring riders to the Beltline at both Ponce City Market and the existing Bankhead MARTA station.

Aside from bus service, the Bankhead heavy-rail station is currently the only transit link to the Beltline.

Next year, however, a bus rapid transit line though Summerhill and an arterial rapid transit line along Metropolitan Avenue are expected to begin service. In addition, the new Clifton Corridor BRT could be operating as soon as 2026. All three of those projects intersect with the Beltline.

If you’re keeping count, that would bring the number of Beltline transit links from one to 10. And all nine new links could be complete by the end of this decade.

All five projects had been relegated to “Tier 2” status for projects to be funded by the More MARTA sales tax. That would have put them on hold until the late 2030s, and even then it’s not clear that any More MARTA money would be left by that time.

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Cost estimates for the five projects Dickens has proposed to move up are rough and dated. A 2018 MARTA document estimated capital costs for the four infill stations at just over $300 million. Construction costs have risen nearly 50 percent since then. At the same time, the stations offers revenue opportunities to MARTA in the form of transit oriented development.

A version of the Hollowell-North line was also estimated at about $300 million. While that project was less than half the length of the route that Dickens envisions, it was planned at the time as a light rail line. Transit experts place the capital cost of BRT at 20 to 30 percent of light rail costs.

It’s unclear where the money to build the stations and the BRT line would come from. Dickens’ order directs MARTA, ABI and two of his top aides to “develop the design and financing plan for these four infill Stations.” The order says less about the crosstown BRT.

Better Atlanta Transit has long argued that service to the Beltline along established routes will improve access to the 22-mile loop for both workers and visitors. In addition to limiting access, the lack of transit access is contributing to an increasing number of parking lots and decks along the corridor. The additional parking could undermine the Beltline’s promise for human-scaled development that allows visitors to leave their cars at home.

The multibillion-dollar Beltline streetcar wouldn’t do much to alleviate the parking lot proliferation or to increase access from outside the Beltline area. It’s designed to carry riders on the Beltline rather than to it. The first leg of the streetcar extension onto the Beltline is now estimated to run around $230 million. 

Dickens did call for what appears to be a review of that project.

“The Chief Operating Officer,” his order says, “is directed to work in partnership with Atlanta Beltline, Inc. to MARTA and Atlanta Beltline, Inc. to develop a plan for mobility and transit options on the entirety of the Beltline.”

Read Mayor Andre Dickens’ administrative order here.