The Atlanta City Council voted unanimously Monday to back Mayor Andre Dickens’ call for MARTA to pause a $230 million renovation of the Five Points Station.
The resolution, introduced by council members Jason Dozier and Amir Farokhi, is non-binding. Dozier said the four-year closure of the station to pedestrians and re-routing of buses to other stations, was “unacceptable.”
“Five Points Station is the busiest MARTA station in the entire system, and to remove access for pedestrians or other transit users, particularly those who are most vulnerable users, especially who are disabled, in unacceptable,” Dozier said. “We’ve got to do a better job of ensuring that we have a system that works for everyone.”
Dickens sent a letter on June 6 to MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood asking for additional information after reading the preliminary findings of an ongoing audit of More MARTA, the sales tax funding the Five Points makeover and the transit agency’s other future projects.
Dickens wrote that he wants to pause the project “until we are in receipt of the final report and engage in subsequent discussions together to determine the best possible path forward for MARTA and the City of Atlanta.”
Greenwood said the renovation project would continue as scheduled after multiple agreements had been signed with contractors to begin the work in July.
Central Atlanta Progress/Downtown Atlanta Improvement District President A.J. Robinson supported Dickens comments, calling the renovation plan “deeply flawed,” Robinson said MARTA’s unwillingness to halt the plan was just another example of its “lack of accountability to taxpayers and riders.”
MARTA said the station overhaul would mean “major service impacts” for riders, including closure of the station to pedestrians and relocation of bus routes. The station would also be closed during the 2026 World Cup matches in the city.
Robinson said MARTA’s plan to remove the concrete canopy and replace it with a transparent top, leaving the bus bays intact and having no programming plan for the large plaza would invite the same issues the station faces today.
MARTA said in a statement released Monday that it plans to meet with the mayor and his leadership team on June 28 and “looks forward to working through improvements to our construction mitigation plan.”
Dyana Bagby contributed to this story.