ATLANTA TRANSIT (Marta, Beltline, Peachtree Streetcar, LovJoy Commuter, etc...)

[jew4life4948]

Atlanta will be ‘left in the dust’ on transit funding
Transportation group sounds grave warning for area

By ARIEL HART
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Atlanta has missed the boat on public transportation compared with some other cities, said the president of a national mass transit organization. Now that more people are driving less, the consequences could be grave.

“You’ll get left in the dust,” said William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association, an advocacy group of mass transit companies and government agencies.

Transportation news

Transit officials to answer questions at meeting
Atlanta will be 'left in the dust' on transit funding
MARTA officials lobby feds for chunk of bailout
Atlanta works on plan for evacuation, gas crisis
DOT's debt slows new road construction

Topic: Atlanta transportation
Millar pointed to cities like Charlotte, Denver and Salt Lake City that are building or expanding their mass-transit systems. He said they will be able to draw more employers with good jobs and offer a better quality of life.

Millar’s words echoed a warning last year from a top national business-relocation consultant who told the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce that some employers were rejecting Atlanta as a potential place to bring jobs, because of traffic congestion.

Millar was in Atlanta Thursday to address a “transportation summit” held by the Georgia Engineering Alliance at the Georgia World Congress Center. He said that so far the very recent declines in gas prices had not reversed the trend of people taking more mass transit.

As a young planner in 1972, Millar visited Atlanta, wanting to see for himself the place that was so ahead of the curve on transportation, he said in an interview. Atlanta had undertaken MARTA, he said, and was planning large stations at places that didn’t seem immediately to call for them, but that later turned out to be big activity centers such as the CNN Center. Atlanta also “built one of the world’s pre-eminent great highway networks,” he said.

Since then, he noted, MARTA’s expansion stopped, and Georgia is unusual in providing no significant sustained state funding for mass transit. He said he was hopeful that the region would turn that around. Activisits are hoping for more transportation funding in the next Legislative session.

[oftrue]

Originally Posted by jew4life4948

Atlanta will be ‘left in the dust’ on transit funding
Transportation group sounds grave warning for area

By ARIEL HART
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Atlanta has missed the boat on public transportation compared with some other cities, said the president of a national mass transit organization. Now that more people are driving less, the consequences could be grave.

“You’ll get left in the dust,” said William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association, an advocacy group of mass transit companies and government agencies.

Transportation news

Transit officials to answer questions at meeting
Atlanta will be 'left in the dust' on transit funding
MARTA officials lobby feds for chunk of bailout
Atlanta works on plan for evacuation, gas crisis
DOT's debt slows new road construction

Topic: Atlanta transportation
Millar pointed to cities like Charlotte, Denver and Salt Lake City that are building or expanding their mass-transit systems. He said they will be able to draw more employers with good jobs and offer a better quality of life.

Millar’s words echoed a warning last year from a top national business-relocation consultant who told the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce that some employers were rejecting Atlanta as a potential place to bring jobs, because of traffic congestion.

Millar was in Atlanta Thursday to address a “transportation summit” held by the Georgia Engineering Alliance at the Georgia World Congress Center. He said that so far the very recent declines in gas prices had not reversed the trend of people taking more mass transit.

As a young planner in 1972, Millar visited Atlanta, wanting to see for himself the place that was so ahead of the curve on transportation, he said in an interview. Atlanta had undertaken MARTA, he said, and was planning large stations at places that didn’t seem immediately to call for them, but that later turned out to be big activity centers such as the CNN Center. Atlanta also “built one of the world’s pre-eminent great highway networks,” he said.

Since then, he noted, MARTA’s expansion stopped, and Georgia is unusual in providing no significant sustained state funding for mass transit. He said he was hopeful that the region would turn that around. Activisits are hoping for more transportation funding in the next Legislative session.

Atlanta definetely is behind schedule on rail development. This city must have a international type rail model. Personally, I think Marta is adequate for about 2.5 million metro area, but Atlanta region is now approaching 6 million people. I hope our political leaders, wakeup like today already or headquarters relocations will definetely avoid Atlanta.

[waughste3]

Originally Posted by oftrue

Atlanta definetely is behind schedule on rail development. This city must have a international type rail model. Personally, I think Marta is adequate for about 2.5 million metro area, but Atlanta region is now approaching 6 million people. I hope our political leaders, wakeup like today already or headquarters relocations will definetely avoid Atlanta.

Sad thing about this is it's a problem that's been going on for over 30 years.

[oftrue]

Originally Posted by waughste3

Sad thing about this is it's a problem that's been going on for over 30 years.

Wow 30 years, how quickly we must turn back to the basics of being the transportation leader in all ways. There is more to the region, than just taking care of Hartsfield airport. The same way Atlanta take cares of Hartfield must, be equally balance across the board with all transportation systems.

[smArTaLlone]

The article mentions a couple of transit projects but they are also still seriously considering tunnelling a highway under the city.
______________________________________________________________________________________



Study: GA needs $100B for transportation
Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Maria Saporta Staff Writer

A gap of about $100 billion exists to fulfill Georgia’s transportation needs in the next 20 years, according to the first part of a study commissioned by Gov. Sonny Perdue and his transportation agencies.

The study, conducted by the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm, examined the relationship between future transportation investments and economic development.

“We are trying to change the paradigm from just talking about transportation needs to economic development investment,” said — Anderson, executive director of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, in an interview Tuesday.

The study explores improving mobility in the Atlanta region through three different ways:

• Demand management: teleworking, compressed workweeks, employee vanpools, congestion pricing, better clear of accidents and converting existing HOV lanes to High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes, where people pay a premium to drive in faster-moving lanes.

• Connecting infrastructure: HOT lanes connecting major employment centers, an express bus system, commuter rail to Griffin and additional arterial roads.

• Invest in most congested corridors: replace express buses with light or heavy rail in dense corridors, build high capacity road projects and build commuter rail between Atlanta and Athens.

The “scenario study” defines those high-capacity road projects as a tunnel underneath the Downtown Connector from I-675 to Georgia 400; and another tunnel paralleling the northern arc of I-285.

“We have come up with a set of investments which are modeled on a variety of new capacity options,” Anderson said, adding that the metro area would be involved in the planning for specific projects.

The price tag for the statewide transportation plan over the next 20 years is between $142 billion and $251 billion. About a half of those funds would likely come from existing sources, such as federal highway dollars, the motor fuel tax and the MARTA sales tax.

That leaves an estimated shortfall of about $100 billion, Anderson said.

The next phase of the study will focus on a variety of options for new revenue sources to meet that shortfall. Anderson said the Georgia Department of Transportation will hear those ideas this week.

[jew4life4948]

Originally Posted by smArTaLlone

The “scenario study” defines those high-capacity road projects as a tunnel underneath the Downtown Connector from I-675 to Georgia 400; and another tunnel paralleling the northern arc of I-285.

The tunnel idea under the city is still around!?!?

I loathe the Reason Foundation.

[Andrea]

They say the Nancy Creek tunnel only cost $135 million including the feeder tunnels and air shafts. It's 8½-miles long, 18 feet in diameter (16’ after being lined with a foot of concrete), and was bored through solid rock by TBMs at a depth of 150’ to 250’ right underneath Buckhead with very little disruption.

I might support this idea if they'll convert the Connector into a series of modern urban boulevards.

[jew4life4948]

Originally Posted by Andrea

They say the Nancy Creek tunnel only cost $135 million including the feeder tunnels and air shafts. It's 8½-miles long, 18 feet in diameter (16’ after being lined with a foot of concrete), and was bored through solid rock by TBMs at a depth of 150’ to 250’ right underneath Buckhead with very little disruption.

I might support this idea if they'll convert the Connector into a series of modern urban boulevards.

I remember one problem was addressing all the extra exhaust produced by the additional cars using the tunnel.

Most of the time you add capacity, more growth happens. ie: GA 400 corridor.

So we will most likely have more cars on the road.

[CityFan]

Very ambitious plans. I hope study itself is not politically motivated.

[dante2308]

Well one thing is certain. Fed funds for reasonable projects will be easier to come by with the new administration.

[dante2308]

Originally Posted by Andrea

They say the Nancy Creek tunnel only cost $135 million including the feeder tunnels and air shafts. It's 8½-miles long, 18 feet in diameter (16’ after being lined with a foot of concrete), and was bored through solid rock by TBMs at a depth of 150’ to 250’ right underneath Buckhead with very little disruption.

I might support this idea if they'll convert the Connector into a series of modern urban boulevards.

Not to rehash this, but now is the worst time to be doing this. There is not enough development in the pipeline to fill in all the gaps for a project like that and our money needs to go into TODs and mass transit first to solve the immediate problems. The budget needs to be a least balanced before we rebuild our CBD. It's good to be bouncing around ideas though. I should put thought into one of my own.

[jew4life4948]

Originally Posted by dante2308

Not to rehash this, but now is the worst time to be doing this. There is not enough development in the pipeline to fill in all the gaps for a project like that and our money needs to go into TODs and mass transit first to solve the immediate problems. The budget needs to be a least balanced before we rebuild our CBD. It's good to be bouncing around ideas though. I should put thought into one of my own.

Anything that deals with the connector or interstates will have to be handled by the GDOT, not the city.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I would like to see money to cap the connector before we add even more capacity underneath it.

Also, for a big dig analogy.
They say traffic in the CBD is fine now, free of bottlenecks.
However it pushed all the congestion to outside the city.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/11/16/big_dig_pushes_bottlenecks_outward/

[Andrea]

If all these big companies and their zillions of employees quit locating in the suburbs it wouldn't be so jammed up out there. They should take a second look at the city, where life is not quite so hectic.

[dante2308]

Originally Posted by jew4life4948

Anything that deals with the connector or interstates will have to be handled by the GDOT, not the city.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I would like to see money to cap the connector before we add even more capacity underneath it.

Also, for a big dig analogy.
They say traffic in the CBD is fine now, free of bottlenecks.
However it pushed all the congestion to outside the city.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/11/16/big_dig_pushes_bottlenecks_outward/

Well, building a system of boulevards to replace an interstate sounds like a project that requires coordination and funding from all levels of government and definitely something Governor Purdue would place in the "pork" column just to improve his conservative rating.

If the congestion has been pushed outside the city, then that represents a very organic way of limiting congestion. I would hope that no one expected everyone in the metro area would be able to drive through downtown. We are at the point where every increase in transportation capacity causes an influx of residents to that area which very quickly clogs the new capacity.

What we need to do is to focus on alternatives. We will never be able to reduce congestion as long as people are willing to put up with it. Even increased mass transit will also increase the population by reducing congestion in those areas, but unlike highways, keeping up with population growth by increasing the frequency and length of trains is much easier than paving new highways.

[dante2308]

Originally Posted by Andrea

If all these big companies and their zillions of employees quit locating in the suburbs it wouldn't be so jammed up out there. They should take a second look at the city, where life is not quite so hectic.

Free market principles dive this city. Fundamentally, we cannot control the beast we have become with the right leaning suburban governments that promote unchecked growth without coordination with the surrounding area. This is something that cannot be remedied until there is a fundamental shift in local public perception.

[AUarch99]

Hi All,
This is my first time posting, but I've been reading this site for sometime. Yes I've read the Architect bashing. Anyway, I take marta every day (train and bus). On my way to work I imagine the "what ifs" as alot of you do and I wanted to share my "what if". Respond with comments. Hopefully the link works.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=...84.396865&spn=0.013073,0.027895&t=h&z=16

[jew4life4948]

Originally Posted by AUarch99

Hi All,
This is my first time posting, but I've been reading this site for sometime. Yes I've read the Architect bashing. Anyway, I take marta every day (train and bus). On my way to work I imagine the "what ifs" as alot of you do and I wanted to share my "what if". Respond with comments. Hopefully the link works.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=...84.396865&spn=0.013073,0.027895&t=h&z=16

Look's great! I can say however that the Connect Atlanta Plan proposes transit on North Avenue so that might overlap with yours on the West Side.

Notes.
-Virginia Ave between North Highland is single-family/residential, so that might not make a good transit throughfare.
-I like the CSX Emory railroad alignment. Emory's had that idea on the drawing board for years. It also may be apart of the Atlanta to Athens rail.
- While I agree that Clairmont Campus is important, it's a shame it can't incorporate Toco Hills and the Briarcliff/N. Druid Intersection.
-The Peidmont/Monroe Station intersects with the NE Beltline. Just to point out.
-I'm not a fluent West Side Resident, but I can say I like the Westside Park, Northside Drive, and State Street.
-You might want to add a stop on Brady Avenue in order to capture the Marietta Artery.
-Tucker and Fulton County Airport both make good rail endpoints.

I hope those help.
Really great job though.

[Andrea]

Originally Posted by dante2308

Free market principles dive this city. Fundamentally, we cannot control the beast we have become with the right leaning suburban governments that promote unchecked growth without coordination with the surrounding area. This is something that cannot be remedied until there is a fundamental shift in local public perception.

Yep. People have every right to live in the suburbs, and for most of the past century that has epitomized the American dream. I'm just saying that from a transportation standpoint the big employers would be well advised to take a look at our more mellow lifestyle here in the city. I'm not sure I could cope with that frenetic pace out there all the time.

[smArTaLlone]

The Transit Planning Board is sponsoring a short survey on the various transit technologies. Survey

[sabino86]

Originally Posted by AUarch99

Hi All,
This is my first time posting, but I've been reading this site for sometime. Yes I've read the Architect bashing. Anyway, I take marta every day (train and bus). On my way to work I imagine the "what ifs" as alot of you do and I wanted to share my "what if". Respond with comments. Hopefully the link works.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=...84.396865&spn=0.013073,0.027895&t=h&z=16

Sweet.

When I go to my internship with MARTA on Tuesday, can I pass this off to them as my idea? (kidding)