MARTA Maps Out Its Future
Marta has a new planning map! This, in and of itself is a good thing. It means the staff and the MARTA board are not giving up and just waiting for an ARC take over. It also shows some of the directions MARTA is considering and it lets people influence the process now, rather than when it’s too late. One can also discern which battles MARTA thinks it cannot win.
The most telling item is that MARTA is conceding that more road building is inevitable and that concrete, rather than rail, will represent a considerable part of the future. The prominence of Bus Rapid Transit solutions (henceforth BRT) makes this obvious. For ages, South Dekalb residents wanted their own rail line. MARTA accepted that there was demand for a line, but now has acknowledged that the likelihood of building new rail there is not worth pursuing. Rather, Memorial Drive seems to be the corridor in which BRT will get its testing ground.
There will be measures taken to ensure that the BRT will have some ability to get around traffic and that there are actual stations to ensure passenger safety. This project also has a time table attached to it, and according to the site cooperation from the Georgia Department of Transportation. If that’s more than just P.R., it is a stunning turn around indeed.
March 13th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
While its great that MARTA is planning for the future, the inability to fund a heavy rail line in South Dekalb I think is fundamentally flawed. Firstly, I-20 East is a parking lot during rush hour traffic (the I-285/I-20 interchange and the Wesley Chapel Exit specifically) which will render the Rapid in BRT mute. Also, how can MARTA justify the North Line Extention, but not provide the same level of service to some the most faithful riders in the system?
BTW I love your blog…keep up the good work