clifton corridor plans announced— it's going to be light rail =[ (Decatur: transfer to, maintenance)

[bryantm3]

MARTA > About Marta > Planning

Clifton Corridor Details
Recommended Alternative
The alternative described below is pending approval from the MARTA Board of Directors

• 8.8 miles of light rail double track (includes tunnels and elevated sections)
• 10 light rail station platforms
  
  • Lindbergh Center (Transfer to Red or Gold Lines)
  • Cheshire Bridge
  • Sage Hill
  • CDC/Emory Point
  • Emory-Rollins
  • Emory-Clairmont
  • North Decatur
  • Suburban Plaza
  • DeKalb Medical Center
  • Avondale Station (transfer to Blue Line)
• 3 additional optional stations for consideration
  
  • Piedmont (Transfer to BeltLine)
  • DeKalb Industrial
  • North Arcadia (old DeVry campus)
• 2 Maintenance and/or storage facilities

not excited about the light rail at all. are we going to have any more HRT in the atlanta area, ever?


i'm not saying we don't need light rail at all— we do. but we need it for those "last mile connections" that would be coming off of the main tracks. this line is pretty independent of either of the HRT tracks. imagine trying to get a "last mile" light rail coming off of this line that goes through emory village, druid hills, etc.— the light rail is so much slower and doesn't "set the stage" for other options, it basically says "this is all you're getting".



either way, the corridor desperately needs transit. i'm glad it's getting *somewhere*.

[tonygeorgia]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

MARTA > About Marta > Planning

Clifton Corridor Details
Recommended Alternative
The alternative described below is pending approval from the MARTA Board of Directors

• 8.8 miles of light rail double track (includes tunnels and elevated sections)
• 10 light rail station platforms
  
  • Lindbergh Center (Transfer to Red or Gold Lines)
  • Cheshire Bridge
  • Sage Hill
  • CDC/Emory Point
  • Emory-Rollins
  • Emory-Clairmont
  • North Decatur
  • Suburban Plaza
  • DeKalb Medical Center
  • Avondale Station (transfer to Blue Line)
• 3 additional optional stations for consideration
  
  • Piedmont (Transfer to BeltLine)
  • DeKalb Industrial
  • North Arcadia (old DeVry campus)
• 2 Maintenance and/or storage facilities

not excited about the light rail at all. are we going to have any more HRT in the atlanta area, ever?


i'm not saying we don't need light rail at all— we do. but we need it for those "last mile connections" that would be coming off of the main tracks. this line is pretty independent of either of the HRT tracks. imagine trying to get a "last mile" light rail coming off of this line that goes through emory village, druid hills, etc.— the light rail is so much slower and doesn't "set the stage" for other options, it basically says "this is all you're getting".



either way, the corridor desperately needs transit. i'm glad it's getting *somewhere*.

True but….. light rail>>>>no rail

I thought the money from the transportation tax would fund Marta rail?

[ATLTJL]

I thought that it would, too.

It seems kind of silly to me. I'm no expert, but doesn't light rail require different trains than heavy rail? It seems inefficient for MARTA to have to maintain 2 different kinds of trains that are incomplatible on each other's tracks and to make people have to exit one train and get on another instead of making it like Lindbergh or 5 Points where the same train just continues on. It might be cheaper in the short-term, but long-term doesn't having 2 different types of rail mean having to have differnt kinds of engineers, different kinds of mechanics, different sets of tools, and so on?

I'm not really seeing too terribly much use for this line. The fact that it goes to Emory, I get, but the other stops don't make too much sense to me. I just can't imagine too many people saying, "Hey, let's go see a movie at the Tara! Hurry up, we only have 2 hours before the movie starts, we have to wait for the the MARTA train, get off at Lindbergh, then wait for the light rail train!" I think those people will still just drive.

[atltechdude]

I agree this is a shortsighted choice.

[ATLTJL]

It's really irrelevant because I'm pretty convinced that there's no way the TSPLOST is going to pass.

Won't defeat of the tax effectively kill this plan?

[Mgyeldell]

I'm very excited about this. I do wish that this was Heavy Rail but hey beggars cant be choosers, and right now we are begging for better transit alternatives. I do like light rail, when I had a 6 month work project in Charlotte in 2010, I had to ride the LYNX light rail almost everyday. It reminded me alot of MARTA. I'm hoping that the Clifton LR is simialr with very few grade crossings and most of it has its on ROW.

[gtcorndog]

So they went with the $1 billion capital expenditure that is expected to attract 5,300 new riders.

[cabasse]

this is grade seperated, so it's only negligibly slower than full HRT. more akin to dallas or st louis, not portland or houston. i'm just glad it's not BRT.

HRT is just too expensive. we have a nice backbone (more miles than LA!!) that goes in all four directions, that we don't use even near capacity. LRT connections to this (like toronto) will help quite a bit.

[cqholt]

It seems inefficient for MARTA to have to maintain 2 different kinds of trains

LRT and streetcars use the same technology and infrastructure. So the Clifton Corridor would use the same technology as the downtown streetcar and BeltLine. LRT is more likely to get funds from the feds and LRT will be able to connect to both the Gold/Red Lines and Blue Lines. HRT was going to end at North DeKalb and not connect to the East-West lines. I do agree that HRT would be better, but LRT has a better chance of getting federal dollars.

are we going to have any more HRT in the atlanta area, ever?

If Cobb and Gwinnett can approve the MARTA tax then there is a chance of extending HRT. HRT is better suited for longer distance travel than LRT.

that we don't use even near capacity

Come ride MARTA during rush-hour. Its standing room only on all trains!

[cwkimbro]

I'm not saying there aren't some arguments for HRT in this corridor vs LRT.

However, lets not be too alarmist...

The LRT line is longer, while the HRT line is short. In MARTA's alternative analysis LRT really wasn't slower hardly at all given the short distance and number of stations. An HRT in this area wouldn't really be able to reach the benefits of the added potential full speed.

As far as efficiency goes... LRT is still more cost efficient in the alternative analysis. It would require new types of rail cars and facilities, but the capital and maintenance cost (per mile) are still considerably lower.

The major pitfall to this is the inability to run trains to Emory/CDC without a connection at Lindbergh. The main problem with this is it would be expensive to operate more trains on the other lines to go to Emory, especially during a time when MARTA is forced to cut back the number of trains on the tracks.

I won't take away other good arguments for HRT, but as far as speed and efficiency.. we don't have much to worry about here.

I also like that this is where LRT functions best. Over shorter distances in an area that isn't going to be a transit backbone for people travelling through to travel across town from other areas. It is either a place to live or a local destination... not so much of a thru-route.