During a tense address from the City of Atlanta to the MARTA Board of Directors, city officials committed to building light rail on the Beltline — but not as the planned streetcar extension.
Chief Policy Advisor Courtney English announced the news on behalf of Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens during public “Transit for All” remarks focused on the More MARTA audit and Five Points MARTA Station renovations.
“We are committed to building rail on the Beltline; however, not in the form that has been previously discussed,” English said.
Existing plans for Beltline rail involve extending the downtown streetcar line into the Eastside trail, but English said the extension will go to the Beltline and not on it. Instead, the city wants Beltline rail to begin on the Southside trail near the fraught Murphy Crossing development.
Dickens said two hired consultants helped the city decide on Southside rail with a “multimodal” Beltline. Some parts of the trail will have light rail, other areas will have “other types of transit” in the short term.
“There’s a lot of disruption that would happen if we try to do it all at once,” Dickens said.
The mayor thinks the South side, lacking in existing rail, is better equipped to handle the massive construction projects. He said light rail will link with other planned transit projects like the Murphy Crossing MARTA infill station.
Dickens said the plan will turn Murphy Crossing into a fully transit-oriented community with retail and housing directly linked to a Beltline rail station, a MARTA infill station. The 20-acre industrial redevelopment project has stalled several times. In February, Atlanta Beltline, Inc. canceled a deal with developers Culdesac, Inc. and Urban Oasis Development.
The Beltline said the termination came after project delays and a lack of secured funding. In March, the organization detailed a new “aggressive” plan to break ground by late 2026 or early 2027. Atlanta Beltline, Inc. will serve as master planner and co-developer to avoid partnership issues.
Murphy Crossing is set for a tighter development schedule, but Beltline rail and MARTA infill projects are set for much longer timelines. The end goal is not just a transit plan but an “equity plan.”
English compared the vision to a “15-minute city” urban planning concept, where all residents are only 15 minutes away from major amenities like shopping, healthcare, and leisure.
“Our best opportunity to create the 15-minute city is leveraging the existing Beltline,” English said. “The Beltline is 15 minutes away from everywhere else in the city because of how it’s designed.”
Mayor Dickens said Atlanta Beltline, Inc. President and CEO Clyde Higgs will roll out more details on Beltline rail soon. From there, the mayor will roll out a detailed plan and gather more public opinions.
He joked that the process was a “delicate battle” because everybody had an opinion on the Beltline. Opinions on trail rail have long been divided, with groups like Better Atlanta Transit strongly opposed and Beltline Rail Now supporting it.
But Beltline Rail Now opposed the mayor’s Southside rail plan in a March 13 press release. The advocacy group pushed to extend the streetcar along the Eastside trail and down to Ponce City Market first. The city said it would extend the streetcar but floated a westward expansion into the Atlanta University Center.
Beltline Rail Now representatives said: “The Streetcar East Extension is the only More MARTA project that can be completed in this decade.”
The group said the infill stations are important but will take 15 years to build. The advocates also pushed back against a “multimodal” Beltline with rail, pods, gondolas and other modes of wheeled transportation.
“Light rail is the proven, scalable solution for urban transit,” Beltline Rail Now Chair Matthew Rao said, highlighting its high capacity and green space integration.
Congrats, BAT, you got what you wanted. The Eastside Trail will remain an overcrowded drive-to destination for everyone but a handful of wealthy homeowners. Eager to see none of the “alternatives” come to fruition, but it was never about that anyway right? At least your property values are safe!
Add the bike lane (parallel to the existing lane) and everyone can get around. Easily. Cheaply. Especially with the advent of ebikes, bikes are the way to go.
Agreed John — except it would be better IMO to use the existing lane for bikes etc and build the new walking path through the trees and meadows. More on that idea right here: https://betteratlantatransit.org/mobilize-the-beltline
Everyone except disabled folks, people with strollers or young children, people carrying groceries or running errands, when it’s raining, when it’s 95 degrees out, when it’s 20 degrees out, people having a night out – the list goes on.
Too, not really beating the “wealthy enclave” allegations suggesting that people just drop a couple grand on an ebike. The city rebate program is a great start but even that is inadequate. This is not a solution that benefits everyone.
except for the disabled, the elderly and those who can not afford and E-bike (or bike-bike). The selfishness is incredible. This greenspace should be for EVERY person to access. The senior citizen living on Auburn Ave should be able to go to and from Kroger (closest location Ponce) in the winter or rain. Rail makes it accessible to ALL.
Mayor Dickens is a loser and so are the Eastside NIMBYs of which he’s kissing their posteriors.
The mayor is directing resources toward the Westside. That is where his political base is, but it is also where transit need is the greatest. Transit investments should go to south and west Atlanta, and that is what he is doing. I t is the right thing to do.
Hi Professor! The mayor is doing that because you and your “Better Atlanta Transit” (a massive misnomer) group pushed him to do so. He (nor you) give a hoot about anything but using political power to do so. Also, how about you stay in Ansley Park and out of our neighborhood?
Not a snowball’s chance in hell that any of the South/Westside rail gets built, but I eagerly await to see how actively your group campaigns for it vs. how much time, energy, and most importantly, money went towards killing Eastside rail.
His base may be over there, but he listens to Buckhead and Ansley Park. BAT is the voice of the wealthy to prevent rail in Atlanta, because they just don’t want equitable solutions and want to keep “those people” out of their neighborhoods. Dickens is just the next pawn for their purpose.
You should still pave the lane where the train would have gone. Make that a bicycle path. Segregating bicycle traffic from foot traffic is important for safety. In the Netherlands, and other advanced countries, bike paths are segregated from walking paths.
A bike path that’s only for bikes will allow commuter traffic between Midtown and the east side. Take 10th Street to the Beltline, the trail to Inman Park, Reynoldstown, and points east via Wylie. Ultimately you can open up Buckhead to this path via Armour Yards.
— Ye Olde Fietser
Yes — create a bike lane parallel to the pedestrian lane! This is used by literally hundreds of millions of people in Europe and elsewhere. The Beltline is popular with foot and bike traffic — it is dangerous and stupid to put them on the same track.
then you’re permanently excluding anyone with mobility issues and making the trail essentially useless when it’s raining, super hot, super cold, etc. light rail solves all of these problems and will also take some of the folks off of the trail
The Netherlands, and other “advanced” countries have EXTENSIVE rail systems.
Wow! So, what could and should have been Atlanta’s golden opportunity to seize global TRANSIT leadership status/recognition, Andre and team, caved. DECADES from now this debacle will still be considered ATL’s biggest missed opportunity. Imagine riding the train in Manhattan, and in order to get to say Queens or Brooklyn, you had to get off the train, take a ferry across the river, and then get back on a train and vice-versa. LOL! Yeah.
The uber important takeaway was for Atlanta to Go Big or Stay Home (Andre and the NIMBY gang blew it for the entire region BIG TIME).
Hope yall realize the “NIMBY’s” do not include many Many people who actually live within distance to access a NE Beltline streetcar .
We would have loved that option –
Dickens , Wan, Higgins et al destroyed an enormous ROW couple years ago to build what ? A Sidewalk !! Massive tree loss .
Oh No , killing atreetcar access NE is Portman’s doing – the old fashioned big money corrupt way .
Pitifully small minded failure .
I applaud the Mayor’s action. $250+ million (and you know that is a baseline, old number) deserves careful consideration – and yes, pivoting where necessary. Have you ever used the downtown streetcar? What a bust – even as a tourist site. (And it would NEVER look like the misleading graphics regularly distributed.) Marta would be better off using those $$s to provide free bicycles or uber rides every year (and STILL come out ahead). I regularly use the trail to commute and the afternoon commute could definitely benefit from a side trail for wheels (and cost much less than $250m). Either way, happy to see the Mayor serve as the adult in the room on this one.
Yes, let’s use taxpayer money to subsidize an extremely problematic corporation that does nothing to ameliorate congestion instead of building a public utility. You’ll still have your nice park though, that’s what’s really important.
I’ve been reading everyone’s thoughts on these growth challenges, and wanted to add my two cents about Ponce City Market’s transportation situation:
1. The Public Transit Reality: Ponce City Market is simply tough to reach without a car. From Kirkwood (just 2.5 miles away!), you’re looking at a 56-minute journey on two different buses. Not exactly convenient.
2. Parking Lot Gridlock: Anyone else been stuck in the Midtown Place shopping center maze? With only two exit points from the Whole Foods/Home Depot lot, I’ve spent 20 minutes of my life just trying to leave after buying groceries.
3. Ride-share Isn’t a Magic Solution: While Uber and Lyft are great in many ways, they haven’t actually reduced traffic around here. Those empty ‘deadhead’ trips to pick up passengers still add cars to our roads.
What was just concerning a few years back has become a real headache today, especially with all the (mostly good) new development in the area. But good news — we do have near-term options!
– The proposed Krog Street infill station could be a game-changer. Imagine just a nine-minute bike ride to PCM — this could especially help the servers, cooks, retail staff, and other workers who keep PCM running.
– The infill station doesn’t need to be fancy at first – just something functional and safe to get people on and off trains.
– Even quicker wins could include a shuttle service from the North Avenue station (something like the Buc Shuttle) or dedicated bus/BRT lanes to and from PCM.
We can create a better-connected Atlanta! If you’re nodding along while reading this, take a minute to join in demanding more from our transit here. The more voices, the better.
What solutions would you add to the list?
The Mayor is a House Negro
Building transit on the Westside / Southside first is code for “its easier to ignore black people when we interrupt their lives with construction”
The reality is that beltline rail will never begin unless it starts where the development has already flourished – MARTA is always criticized because “it doesn’t go where anyone actually is,” – this is the same theory being played over again. Dickens is betraying his constituents to make Buckhead and Ansley Park happy. The Atlanta Way.