Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens teased public engagement sessions starting as soon as June 2025 for the newly-announced plans to build rail on the Beltline’s Southside trail at a March 27 Atlanta Press Club event.
During the Q&A moderated by Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Riley Bunch, Dickens defended his controversial plan to pivot from long-planned light rail on the Beltline’s Eastside trail to create rail on the Southside trail.
The mayor said he wants to kick off construction with four miles on the Southside trail, but the change “does not mean you will not get rail on the Eastside trail.” He posed the matter as an equity issue.
“I’m trying to solve a generational, multi-generational challenge with the Southside,” Dickens said.
The mayor cited a study that found 92 percent of the people who work on the Beltline don’t live along the path. He said Southside rail will help employees get to work rather than feed into “European” visions of rail.
“You want to make sure that it actually performs for the people,” Dickens said.
Dickens announced the change at a March 13 MARTA meeting. Previous plans for Beltline rail would involve extending the downtown streetcar line into the Eastside trail. Instead, he’s looking for a multimodal transit path along the 22-mile loop.
“Two different consultants came back and said that this is likely going to be multimodal,” Dickens said.
The consultants told Dickens transit is like tech: by the time the last segment is set for construction, existing rail will be “outdated.”
His original announcement drew ire from Beltline rail advocates who said the Southside trail project isn’t as “shovel-ready” or easy to complete as the Eastside trail, which would just involve extending an existing trolley.
However, Dickens stressed that the timeline isn’t as far off as some may think. He promised the city would begin public conversations and engagement on the project by “mid-year, nearing June.” He said construction on the rail would start during his second term if he gets reelected to serve through 2030.
He also said the project can be done largely without federal funding, a point of concern for the current administration. Many local and federal agencies have seen their funding slashed and staffs cut down, and Dickens said Atlanta faces the same issues.
“Our goals do not change, but our strategies are changing,” Dickens said.
His strategy for Beltline rail will use the taxpayer-funded More MARTA dollars set aside for light rail and the Beltline Tax Allocation District. The TAD accounts for 40 percent of the Beltline’s funding and will expire in 2030. Dickens said he plans to extend the deadline.
In the meantime, Dickens said the Beltline is set to have a “U” completed by the time eight FIFA World Cup matches head to the city in 2026. He said the sporting event will draw in an estimated billion dollars in economic development — and he wants it to “happen with Atlanta, not to Atlanta.”
“Construction will start during his second term, if he is re-elected”
Why should anyone believe another promise from Mayor Dickens?
There’s nothing “European” about rail. If you want a European vision, put a second strip of concrete on the Beltline, using Georgia red clay. That way bicyclists won’t be running into kids, dogs, and walkers as they do now. Fiets don’t fail me now. (Fiets is Dutch for bicycle, BTW.) I am learning a lot here in the Netherlands and will be glad to share that knowledge on my return in May.
I’ve been walking and biking on the Westside Beltline since 2015 – a full 10 years, and I have NEVER seen a biker hit anything or anybody except their brakes. I do see people walking three-four abreast without regard for others, people not reining in their children or pets thus blocking both sides of sidewalk, single walkers meandering down the middle of both sidewalks, others walking on the left side rather than the right. Sometimes young men on motorcycles dangerously fly down the Beltline and it seems there is no way to stop them. My experience is that bikers are the most aware and respectful users of the Beltline. However, everyone, biker, parents with children, dog walkers, should be respectful of the right-of-way and that would reduce problems.
Sadly, there has been no engagement thus far with neighborhoods on the segment he is proposing. Pittsburgh, Peoplestown and Ormewood Park, Chosewood Park, Grant Park leaders should be involved before studies start.
Peoplestown specifically has MARTAs new BRT line under construction and needs to directly connect to a Beltline rail stop to make this project actually have any worth. The terminus locations of this segment at Murphy Crossing and Glenwood have no connection to MARTA rail (unless funding for a Murphys Crossing infill station comes out of nowhere).
Southside rail also terminating at Glenwood misses the connection to the Eastside growing population & job nodes, existing transit, and existing streetcar vehicle maintenance facility.
The latter means a new facility would need to be constructed if not connected with existing streetcar, which may require right of way acquisition, construction of the facility, in addition to duplication of maintenance equipment.
I agree with Dana above about laying another parallel path AND TRY far less expensive electric busses which would share with bikers. Build ridership first. I do believe the small electric busses could be driverless.
Your transit solution is just another road? Using a technology that hasn’t been successfully deployed at scale anywhere in the world? And you think that will *save* money and preserve the character of the Beltline?
Got a bridge for sale too if you’re interested.
People are nuts acting like rail is so outdated, like we need to reinvent the wheel to get people from one place to another. Rail gets the job done way better than pods or buses. A dedicated bike lane would be helpful, but does not replace the utility of a dedicated rail.
LRT requires 8,000-15,000 residents/jobs within 1/2 mile of each station. —22 miles construction cost= $5B+—-$50 million annual operating costs——True trip costs per ride $14. —-If this is viable, submit it to the Feds for funding….They’ll reject due to abysmal low projected daily ridership numbers…..
Atlanta has already built the ridership. Look at all the new, mixed-use development along the Eastside Trail. That is built-in ridership.
Well, “tease” seems an appropriate phrase because there is no coherent approach that the mayor has laid out. And what does “European” even mean? There is a plan – it has considerable support – it has a reasonable time-line – and it has a funding source. What it doesn’t have is leadership from the top.
It remains completely unclear to me that this actually guarantees faster delivery on the Southside than having delivered a high-quality product on the Eastside would have. Continuing planning for the Southside while the Eastside is under construction would have led to a lot more momentum and offered a more comprehensive network in the 2030s than what this gamble will deliver even if it pays off on the timeline the mayor promises. And I highly doubt that timeline is viable.
Because Dickens is lying through his teeth.
I think its clear, that this new path doesn’t do anything to expedite transit on the southside and if anything it serves to continue the “should we build it or not” debate for another decade.
We don’t own all the land to even build betline rail on the eastside right now. Advocates for eastside are never upfront about this. Eastside land is 2-5x more expensive and there’s probably going to some type of eminent domain to get the rest. The city just lost a lawsuit about this exact situation in buckhead so we can’t just take the land as initially envisioned. Land acquisition costs on the eastside have skyrocketed by 5-10x. We can’t build there until we vote for a high moremarta tax. Simple math
“European” vision = Bougie Eastside Beltline People
Imagine being so willfully naive to think that the group arguing for expanded PUBLIC transit are the bougie ones as opposed to the NIMBY group astroturfed by Portman, their wealthy restauranteur friends, or the people in the multi-million dollar Inman Park homes with anti-beltine rail signs in their yards. Yeah, real advocates for the people.
1. Name the consultants or it’s BS
2. What does “multimodal” mean to Andre here?
3. Does he not realize he could build the streetcar east now *and also* begin planning for the Southside? Which would actually have us believe he isn’t doing another bait and switch?
4. Transit is not like Tech, but it sounds sexy and it absolutely duped the mayor who clearly does not understand how transit works nor transportation project delivery, which has been a major failure (see Moving Atlanta Forward progress) despite having activated ATLDOT years ago.