Original Story by Maria Saporta on WABE.
The Atlanta Streetcar. People instantly have an opinion ─ regardless of the facts. Some call it a boondoggle. Others say it doesn’t go where they want to go.
The Atlanta Streetcar. People instantly have an opinion ─ regardless of the facts.
Some call it a boondoggle. Others say it doesn’t go where they want to go. Inevitably the conversation will go to the $92 million cost to build the 2.7-mile loop that connects Centennial Olympic Park with the King Center through the heart of downtown Atlanta.
The Atlanta Streetcar could make the city liable for tens of millions of dollars for repairs stemming from stray electricity used to power the system, city officials said Tuesday.
Historic sites along a portion of the Atlanta Streetcar’s route will be better marked if the plan to install wayfinding signs wins expected approval from Atlanta’s Urban Design Commission.
The UDC is slated to consider the application to install the signs at its Sept. 24 meeting. The proposal calls for new signs to be installed at a series of addresses along Auburn Avenue.
The start date for the streetcar’s operation has not been finalized. Mayor Kasim Reed has said he expects the system to begin before Dec. 31. The system still is being tested and evaluated by the appropriate governmental entities.
Atlanta on Wednesday is slated to enter the final phase of approving a rate structure for the Atlanta Streetcar, the same day the last of four streetcars is due to arrive.
If all goes as planned, base fares will be set at $1 a trip, $3 a day, $10 for five days, $11 for seven days, and $40 for 30 days, according to a presentation to be presented to the Finance Committee of the Atlanta City Council. Fares can be paid with MARTA Breeze cards, according to related legislation.
Atlanta has the authority to double the proposed $1 cost of a one-way ticket on the Atlanta Streetcar without public notice if the city determines it needs more money to operate the system, according to legislation to be discussed at the public hearing. Service is to be free for about three months.
Gov. Nathan Deal on Tuesday was quick to jump on President Obama’s budget proposal for not including money to start the Savannah harbor deepening project.
But the Obama proposal does contain money for other transportation projects that may be of help in Georgia, particularly in Atlanta. Deal said the state will begin deepening the harbor with funds it already has set aside for the job.
Atlanta’s effort to bring more of the planning for the expansion of the Atlanta Streetcar under the wing of the Atlanta BeltLine has hit a snag at Atlanta City Hall.
This particular situation is not expected to be significant. But it is the latest in a series that has led to the delay of at least a year in the planned opening of the Atlanta streetcar’s current route.
The current snag involves the source of up to $6 million to pay for planners and planning consultants to work on the streetcar expansion project. The city council’s Finance Committee raised a question that may delay legislation that had been slated for adoption by the council on Monday: What sources of taxpayer dollars will the Atlanta BeltLine use to pay for this long-range planning.
Representatives of six transit operating companies that want to run the Atlanta Streetcar took a walking tour of the route Thursday.
The companies attended a pre-proposal conference conducted by MARTA to introduce the streetcar to the market of companies that have expressed an interest in operating and maintaining the service through March 2018. Bids are due June 28.
MARTA intends for the contract operator of the streetcar to start work around Sept. 15 and to begin providing passenger service on or about Jan. 12, 2014, according to a schedule included in the request for proposals.
The effort to spur businesses that could be served by the future Atlanta Streetcar along Auburn Avenue got a lift Tuesday in the form of a state program that provides tax credits for new jobs.
A section of Auburn Avenue now is an Opportunity Zone. The designation will provide a tax credit of $3,500 for one new job to companies that create two net jobs. The tax credit lasts five years, according to the state Department of Community Affairs, which approved the new zone.
The designation is particularly important, coming as it does amidst a whirlwind of activity – both planned and halted – along the street that once was the center of black commerce in the south.
By Guest Columnist LEON EPLAN, former commissioner of the City of Atlanta’s Department of Planning and Development
As work progresses on the Atlanta Streetcar, the city has aken a giant step towards confronting its current and future traffic problems.
Construction on the entire 2.6-mile loop will continue until the day the line is open for public travel, now scheduled for spring, 2014. By then, planning for additional lines will have already begun.
It’s been more than a half century since streetcars ran on Atlanta’s roads.
But that’s about to change — despite numerous obstacles that have revealed that we’re a bit rusty in the streetcar development business.
Construction work is progressing on the Atlanta Streetcar — and it currently appears that service will begin in the spring or early summer of 2014.
That is about six to seven months after the original schedule. But the project has experienced unforeseen delays — primarily over the relocation of underground utilities and the surprises of what exists underneath out streets. More than 15 utilities have been impacted.
Two upcoming forums will provide information to small and minority companies seeking contracts to design and build projects in Atlanta to be funded with proceeds of the proposed 1 percent sales tax for transportation.
Presenters will talk about the procurement processes to be used to award contracts for planned transportation projects in Atlanta, MARTA, DeKalb and Fulton counties. Registration for the session Wednesday is closed, but openings remain for the March 6 event.
The forums occur as the state Legislature debates a proposal to redefine small business as it relates to state purchasing contracts. House Bill 863 would change the size of a small business, for purposes of competing for a state contract, from 100 employees to 500 employees.
