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Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued the
One Atlanta: One APD Community
Policing Roadmap to combat crime
concerns including a new public safety
training academy, expanding the
surveillance camera network, expanding
At-Promise Centers for at-risk youth,
and requiring additional training for
officers to defuse dangerous situations.
The Atlanta Department
of Transportation is
installing 25 mph
speed signs that will
reduce the speed limit
to nearly 75 percent of
the city’s streets.
A portion of
Centennial Olympic
Parkin Downtown
has reopened after
being closed since last
summer, Wednesdays-
Sundays, 10 am-6 pm.
The Atlanta Regional
Commission
announced thatthe
planned extension
of 15th Street was
recently awarded a
$2 million grant from
the Federal Highway
Administration.
MARTA contracts for study of BeltLine rail;
Northeast Trail segment completed
By Collin Kelley
MARTA has signed a contract to begin
a feasibility study for adding the light rail
component to the Atlanta BeltLine loop.
The transit authority’s board of
directors authorized a contract for a
comprehensive engineering analysis
for light rail that would connect to
current MARTA heavy rail stations. The
feasibility study will be conducted by
VHB/Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. at a
cost of $500,000.
According to a statement released
by MARTA, the six-month study is an
important step towards requesting federal
funding support as well as taking a close
look at design gaps in connecting the
BeltLine to existing transit.
“MARTA appreciates that advocates
for BeltLine rail are eager to see dirt
turned, but upon analysis of initial
environmental and engineering studies
conducted by Atlanta BeltLine Inc. [ABI],
we identified significant gaps that must
be addressed,” said MARTA General
Manager and CEO Jeffrey Parker. “This
is typical for a project of this size and this
feasibility study will examine technical
issues and risks involved in building
light rail on the BeltLine and give us a
better sense of overall project costs and
feasibility. Right now, we have lines on
a map with little to no connectivity. For
this project to progress and ultimately
succeed, it must connect to the existing
MARTA system.”
The draft environmental study
documents released by ABI were primarily
trail-based with some rail considerations
which did not address several areas
of rail transit concerns. The planning
review of the documents revealed transit
connectivity gaps to the north between
Ansley Mall and Lindbergh Center rail
station and to the south between the
existing Streetcar and 1-20. Additionally,
alignment options to MARTA heavy rail
stations and alongside existing private
8 May 2021 |[E]
railroad tracks have not been adequately
addressed and require more evaluation.
“The board saw this feasibility study
as an important next step in MARTA’s
commitment to its customers who
support transit expansion along the
BeltLine, and throughout the system,”
said MARTA Board Chair Rita Scott.
“When people hear of another study, they
may be tempted to criticize this as over
analysis, but this level of due diligence
is paramount to providing safe, efficient,
and connected transit, which is the goal
of everyone involved in this massive
project.
Advocacy group BeltLine Rail Now
maintained in a post on its website and
social media that light rail was the only
answer and questioned MARTA’s “hand-
wringing and doubt.”
In the post on its website, the
organization asked, “Why are we still
talking about this 20 years after the
BeltLine vision captured the hearts and
minds of our city? Since 2005, at least
three separate expert reviews came to the
same official conclusion: the best transit
mode for the BeltLine is light rail.”
The post went
on: “The BeltLine
is designed for
higher density
residential and
commercial
development,
which requires
higher-volume
transit. Real
progress with
affordable housing,
in quantity and
quality, is only
possible with
increased density.
And with direct
connections to
MARTA at new
infill stations, we can begin to address
transit equity in a meaningful way in
Atlanta and repair the damage of prior
decades that divided and separated
Atlantans along racial lines.”
In other BeltLine news, ABI and
Georgia Power have completed work on
a portion of the Northeast Trail and it is
now open to the public in an advanced
interim state. The trail runs through
the Piedmont Lleights and Ansley Park
neighborhoods and is accessible behind
Ansley Mall and via a ramp connection
from Montgomery Ferry Road.
At 0.7 miles in length, this paved,
multi-use trail — known as Segment 2 — is
part of the larger Northeast Trail that will
ultimately connect from the northern end
of the Eastside Trail by Piedmont Park up
to the Lindbergh MARTA station.
The next phase of work for Segment
2 will fully complete 1.2 miles of the
multi-use trail between Westminster
Drive and Mayson Street, including: the
paved trail, a connection to Piedmont
Avenue, lighting and security cameras,
bridgework, planting, and stormwater
management systems. an
AtlantalntownPaper.com