Transit on the BeltLine would provide a necessary transportation option to ensure access to jobs as more people and companies move into the city, according to city leaders. Investing in light rail is critical to the city’s future success, they said.
The message was stressed at the Oct. 24 “State of the Atlanta BeltLine” address at Uptown Atlanta near the Lindbergh Center Station in Buckhead. The program included panel discussion with BeltLine, MARTA and city officials along with real estate developers.
“What the BeltLine really is doing is connecting us and in many cases re-connecting us to each other, connecting us to nature, and hopefully will be connecting us to jobs … that maybe one day will help reduce our city’s income gap,” Mayor Andre Dickens said at the start of the program.
Better Atlanta Transit, a new group of business and community leaders, has come out against BeltLine transit. Members say light rail is outdated and the cost to taxpayers too high. They are urging the city to halt Beltline transit because they say it would destroy the beauty of the multi-use trail popular with pedestrians and cyclists.
The mayor discounted such concerns.
“The promise of transit will serve to integrate with — and not disrupt — what Atlantans have already fallen in love with on the Beltline,” he said.
Ryan Gravel came up with the idea of the BeltLine in 1999 for his master’s thesis at Georgia Tech. It includes a 22-mile loop of trails, parks and transit around the city’s urban core to connect dozens of intown neighborhoods.
“Transit is the DNA of the Atlanta BeltLine,” said Clyde Higgs, president and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. ABI is the organization overseeing the development of the BeltLine, one of the country’s largest urban redevelopment projects.
In 2016, more than 70% of Atlanta residents voted to approve funding the More MARTA program to expand transit in the city, including transit on the BeltLine, Higgs said.
Nearly 2 million people are expected to move to metro Atlanta by 2050 and transit is the best option for people to get around the city already burdened by heavy traffic, Higgs said.
“We’re doing this for our grandkids, our great grandkids,” he said. “Are we going to set them up for success? If we are, we really need to start thinking about options for them to get around the city.”
Lisa Benjamin, COO of the City of Atlanta, said investing in infrastructure is about providing access, opportunities and ensuring inclusivity to the community.
Atlanta is the midst of an affordable housing crisis. ABI’s promise of 5,600 affordable units on the BeltLine is a good start for housing equity, Benjamin said. As more companies move to Atlanta and hire workers at less than $75,000 a year, these households are spending more than half that salary on housing and transportation, she said.
“We want to continue to have the economic development that we have … but we have to have an option for all of the people that work in those businesses otherwise they won’t be viable in our community,” she said.
Higgs said he believes the bulk of the opposition to BeltLine transit is about aesthetics.
“I personally want something that’s very verdant and green,” Higgs said. “You don’t need a concrete monstrosity [down] the middle of the BeltLine.” These kinds of concerns can be addressed in conversations and designs, he said.
More than 80% of the BeltLine trail is completed. The Eastside Trail, used by millions of people every year, recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. But transit is moving very slow.
The Downtown Atlanta Streetcar extension to the BeltLine and then to Ponce City Market is expected to break ground in 2025 and be open to riders in 2028. It would be the first segment of transit on the BeltLine. And the nearly three-mile route is estimated to cost $230 million.
Ambrish Baisiwala, chairman and CEO of Portman Holdings, said plans for transit on the BeltLine are older than the iPhone and still there is nothing to show.
“We have limited dollars, and we need this transit now,” he said. “For me, a more effective solution is to take a look at the existing MARTA network.”