Atlanta’s rail system saw continued construction and expansion on April 11, with Mayor Andre Dickens announcing the locations of three new infill stations on the heavy rail line and the MARTA board approved millions in deconstruction funding for the Five Points station redevelopment.
At the board meeting, project manager Keli Davis presented a resolution asking for an “increased contract amount” via $51.4 million to fund pre-construction on the MARTA Five Points station transformation.
The planned $206-million overhaul of the system’s busiest station was announced in late 2023 with construction running through 2026. Current designs show a revamped concourse and plaza levels, plans for green space, increased accessibility and bus operations and a new canopy.
Project manager Keli Davis said the project needs to work on “pre-construction,” starting in June 2024. Plans include demolition, deconstruction and what the blowback will be.
“Deconstruction is actually the engineered removal of the canopy that is taking down the canopy the way that it was constructed; it cannot simply be bulldozed; it has to be deconstructed piece by piece,” Davis said.
Funding for deconstruction and demolition will take place in two packages: Package one at $47 million and package two at $4.5 million.
Once construction begins, passengers won’t be able to use the station for approximately 18 months. It won’t be completed in time for the city to host eight World Cup matches in 2026, but MARTA will pause construction for the games to allow visitors to enter and exit the station.
Alongside work at existing MARTA stations, Mayor Andre Dickens revealed via an April 11 administrative order the locations for three infill stations announced last month at his State of the City address.
Dickens said at the city address a new station would be built at the Murphy Crossing redevelopment on the BeltLine in Southwest Atlanta. The three other station sites are at Krog Street/Hulsey Yard, between Inman Park and Reynoldstown, Joseph E. Boone Boulevard and Armour Yards in Buckhead. In the order, Dickens also asks the city to work with BeltLine, Inc. and MARTA to develop the design and financing plan for the project.
Dickens also directed the city’s Chief Operating Officer to work with MARTA and the BeltLine to “engage MARTA to develop a plan for mobility and transit options on the entirety of the BeltLine.”
The Murphy Crossing MARTA station will add heavy rail alongside the BeltLine, a move that reignites conversation around the extension of the Atlanta Streetcar to the Eastside trail. Light rail on the heavily-trafficked path system was a part of the original design for the BeltLine.
However, some residents oppose the addition of a streetcar alongside the pedestrian paths. At public comment in the April 11 MARTA board meeting, Resident Chris Dura proposed a plan to gather data on Eastside BeltLine streetcar ridership ahead of construction.
“I’d like to propose a way of gathering that ridership and a way of doing that is to provide two shuttle buses, to drive a four-mile route and take the same stops that the streetcar would stop,” Dura said.
The retired program manager and engineer said the plan could generate “hard data” on whether people would use a streetcar.
Despite discussion from business leaders, officials and residents on the construction of the BeltLine streetcar, Dickens has yet to announce any plans for such a project opting to encourage “mobility and transit options.”
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