MARTA Transit/GA 400 Project Likely to Remain a Hot Topic
A public input meeting was held in Sandy Springs on Thursday evening.
Photos
Brooke Levin saw a ray of hope for her daily commute during MARTA’s public input meeting on Thursday.
“I am so put off by the traffic,” she said. “I lose two hours a day in traffic. We spend so much time ruining our environment in our cars that it would be worth it to build something; a tunnel, anything. I would pay $8 a day [on a MARTA train] and get rid of my car.”
The meeting was held at Sandy Springs’ North Fulton Annex. The MARTA project could include bus and light or heavy rail through a corridor that stretches from Georgia 400 and I-285 to McGinnis Ferry Road.
Levin, 26, lives in Forsyth County, just over the Alpharetta line, and commutes to her real estate job in Sandy Springs. Because of traffic congestion, she and many motorists heading south on GA 400 exit at Haynes Bridge Road and re-enter the highway at Mansell Road.
MARTA has a transit study under way that includes analysis of the communities where the transportation system might be constructed, and public feedback. Community resources, historic sites, and natural resources would be taken into consideration if a transit system is developed.
“You want to locate a station where someone is getting off and getting to work…not in the middle of a [residential] neighborhood,” said Adelee Marie Le Grand, project manager from AECOM consulting firm.
Levin’s frustration echoes points made by Le Grand to the crowd of about 25 people. Studies show that traffic congestion will worsen as the population grows in communities along the corridor, Le Grand said.
Projected employment in the pockets of communities along the corridor is expected to increase up to 90 percent by 2040, according to studies.
“We want to look at moving people, not cars. It doesn’t always have to be a road solution,” Le Grand said.
A transit project would include Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and Mountain Park; and could take six to 12 years to develop depending on funding. If the one-penny sales tax referendum is passed in July, funds would be available for preliminary designs and engineering.
Following an overview of MARTA’s analysis to date, attendees wrote comments on current challenges and recommendations on easel pads.
Here's a sampling of comments:
“Lack of interconnection between transit systems.”
“…A popular reason not to take transit is the amount of time spent waiting to change from rail to bus.”
“Streetcars could potential solve east/west transportation [problems].”
“Might cost a lot of money.”
“MARTA has less than 5 percent ridership. It does nothing to relieve congestion and cost $22 per passenger.”
MARTA plans to hold additional meetings during the spring and later this year.
Marc
12:17 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2012
Marta should expand all the way to at least Cumming while land prices are so low. I moved here from the DC area were Metro was originally built as a make work project. Now it is used to capacity. The ideas of pay lanes and other gimmicks should give way to expanding Mass Transit. Build it and they shall come. Imagine a network like NY where it would actually take you more time to use your car to get around than using the train. 400 would clear up. Business would love to come into a city were their employs could easily get to work.
Bill Evelyn
3:51 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2012
Brilliant Marc. Spend billions so 2% of Georgian's ride it. Better yet privatize it and let the business determine where it should expand.
Hal Schneider
4:10 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2012
Marc...did you read the last comment in the article above? "MARTA has less than 5% ridership". Why would you want to expand a colossal failure?
Marc
6:01 pm on Saturday, January 28, 2012
The fact that Marta does not teach out to the suburbs like the DC metro may have sometimg to do with that. By the time you get to Marta on 400 you might as well drive on to Atlanta.
Marc
8:35 am on Sunday, January 29, 2012
A good transit system will attract the high paying Green Tech business that Atlanta so desperately needs. Also the airport would have greater access to it. And imagine taking the transit downtown to restaurants and bars and not worrying about driving home impaired. Bushiness everywhere would cash in. Now that being said once the Transit is finished, the parking metres in downtown should be tripled in cost to encourage usage. The DC Metro started out with low usage also. Now that it goes to the suburbs, if you are not at a Metro station by 6am you will have great difficulty finding a parking place. I invision trains going up 75 to Chattanooga and 85 to Macon and to Gainesville. A train system with Atlanta as the hub. Like the Airport is a hub. If Ga is going to join the national push fo better public transit, get cars off the highway and us off the nipple of middle east oil, the cost will never be lower than now. And talk about job creation!!
Bill Evelyn
6:22 pm on Sunday, January 29, 2012
Marc. Spoken like a true commie pinko socialist utopianist. Green is Red; mass transit is a utopian pipe dream. People are not going to stop driving their cars until all you socialists drive up the cost of driving cars forcing us to live in your utopia.
Hal Schneider
7:00 pm on Sunday, January 29, 2012
Bill, they are working on it as hard as they can! Give them a break!
Marc
7:36 pm on Sunday, January 29, 2012
Bill
Obviously you do not read my other commentaries. I am a Right leaninig libertariain. I just have experianed the luxury of sitting on a train getting to my destination without sitting in traffic. If that is Communist thinking than so be it. Until you have lived a city that has good viable public transportation please keep your name calling to your self. It is that attitude that keeps industry and tech out of Ga. Along with their jobs.
Marc
7:43 pm on Sunday, January 29, 2012
And Bill like every good tree hugger i drive a F150 4x4 pickup. Fairly Communist of me don't you think?
Bill Evelyn
6:29 am on Monday, January 30, 2012
I must admit that I respect a man who drives a FORD pickup. I guess you just spout the commie pinko language. The trains in Washington DC are a financial disaster, yet it takes the "sheeple" from Fair Oaks to Metro Center with relative ease. All the little "sheeple" board two by two and go forth to Mordor on the Potomac.
joe
6:58 pm on Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Lmao, Marc, I am on your side, you got to love some of the idiots on here. "Just for the record, I am a die hard Christian conservative" but I also think in rational ways. One I am so glad we can now buy beer in this state on Sundays, I know that has nothing to do with this post, but just saying to point out how I think. I am also from the North where mass transit has been in place and has worked for years. Why? Because the systems up there work, and they go every where people need to go. Why is ridership so low here? Why does it not work? Well its because the trains dont go any where very far out of the city. If people would quit crying and whining every time they talk about truly expanding the system, and let them do it. once its built you may be very surprised at how well it may do. Gas is not going to get any cheaper, and with the idiot we have in the White House right now, i wont be surprised if gas goes up to $7. per gallon if he gets reelected. At that point people will be begging for Mass Transit. This is why Metro Atlata will never be a true city. You know, one that attracts real jobs, more tourists. and so forth. Because half of the people who live here still have there heads stuck back in the civil war days. Its 2012 get with the times, and learn how to grow.
Marc
8:04 pm on Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Bill,
I lived in the DC area from the time they first built the Metro until 2005. All those tens of thousands of sheep get to work one hell of a lot quicker and easier than the wolves on the Beltway. Some programs are meant for the good of the community not to make money. But the DC metro is full every minute of the day. But it took a little while to get it that way. And that was accomplished by bringing it to the suburbs. This type of mass transit has proven itself in DC and NY as well as London. What could possibly be wrong with cutting down the commute time to Atlanta? More time with the family? Less wear and tear on your vehicle? Less middle east oil bought? Attracting forward thinking business with high paying jobs? Relaxing trips to the ball games and airport? More money brought into the areas with train stops?
Hal Schneider
7:48 pm on Sunday, January 29, 2012
Marc, what you don't seem to understand is that the only way they can build the transit system that you are talking about is to confiscate the money from the taxpayers! I am retired and have very little reason to travel to downtown Atlanta or the airport. Why do you feel that it is appropriate for you to confiscate my money to build something that I have no use for? If a mass transit system is such a great idea, why hasn't a private corporation invested in one and made a fortune? Where in the constitution does it say that the government is responsible for providing a mass transit system for the citizenry? This is just more big government!
Marc
9:00 pm on Sunday, January 29, 2012
Hal
How about the people who have no kids in school but their taxes go to them? We cannot live in little vaccum. Your local taxes go to what hopefully Benifit you locally but your state taxes go to what helps Ga as a whole. I am a big opponent to big government but somethings the government pays for
And by the way, there are privately owned toll rds. And whenever a private company wants to do public transportation the government reguulates it to death before it gets off the ground. You may not have a reason to go downtown but my hour and a half commute there and the many thousands of cars with me say you are in the minority.
Hal Schneider
10:08 pm on Sunday, January 29, 2012
You just made my point. I believe in privatizing the public school system! The government has done a horrendous job of educating our kids. They need to get out of the education system and let the private sector do what they have proven they can do much better, much cheaper!
Bill Evelyn
6:31 am on Monday, January 30, 2012
Billions spent on schools and the President gives a speech written for a third grader. 300 M "sheeple" that can only understand at the 3rd grade level. Pitiful!
Marc
6:51 am on Monday, January 30, 2012
Now that is something we can agree upon!
Neil Stapley
8:41 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
There is not a single country in the world where massive infrastructure projects are not funded by public funds. Its the actual running and maintenance that are private. Marta has a 5% ridership because of snobbery and the belief that public transport is for the poor. The xpress bus route 400 runs between Cumming and North Springs station and downtown Atlanta friendly drivers and comfy coaches. When the gas prices reach over $5 a gallon what will the anti public transport lobby say then. Oh their only argument is bill baby drill.
Hal Schneider
9:56 pm on Saturday, February 4, 2012
No doubt the environmental extremists would love to see gas at $5.00/gallon. In fact, I have no doubt that they are doing everything they can to see just that happen. What they don't seem to realize, or maybe they just don't care, is what that will do to the price of all goods. And who exactly is concerned about the poor and those on fixed incomes? Makes you wonder!
Bill Evelyn
10:20 am on Sunday, February 5, 2012
The criminals in Mordor on the Potomac want $5.00 per gallon gas, because it means more money in excise taxes for them. They don't care about the environment, the working people, or the poor. They want more money that they can distribute to government unions, special interests, and backers. They take our money and give it to special interests that in turn give it back to the politicians in the form of campaign contributions. Both parties do it, but the Dumbocraps do it far more effectively. The Dumbocraps would cease to exist without gub'mint, because most Dumbocraps are cheapskates - they use your money to get themselves elected.
Random
8:12 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
I consider myself to be a moderate. Truth be it, I don't like living here because of the commute. My family and I will be moving to Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, or Brookhaven as soon as we can afford to. Joe is absolutely right on transit, I would love to be able to take MARTA instead of driving. It would actually be a savings for me to pay $8 dollars a day round trip on MARTA if we could get rid of 1 car. My last comments are for Bill and Hal:
Bill, attacking people directly / name calling is the quickest way to disassociate yourself from those you may need to support you someday. Hal: The actions and beliefs of young professionals today are a response to the environment that the older generations provided for them to grow up in. If the status quo was so successful, then why are young professionals overwhelmingly in support of changing it? From my years of working in Metro Atlanta, I've come to realize that both the public and private sectors are equally as corrupt as the other. Unlike private companies, the government can't write off a $5,000 salary for their 3 year old kid or consider the purchase of a Ferrari a "business expense." I appreciate the fact that the government has a much harder time "covering up." At least then I know the extent to which I have been screwed and for how long it has been happening.
Hal Schneider
8:36 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
Random,
Aprivate company who pays $5000 to their 3 year-old kid or buys a Ferrari as a business expense is in NO WAY comparable to corruption in government. That PRIVATE company, made the money they are wasting, they did not confiscate it from unwilling taxpayers! You are making a personal decision to move closer to your job to avoid the traffic. I applaud you for doing so. You are taking personal responsibilty for own quality of life, instead of asking the government to reach into my pocket to help pay for it. That argument that you stuck with what the older generation gave you doesn't fly. We can all say that! The only question is whaat are you going to do to fix it...yes, you, personally!
Random
9:02 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
I used to work for an accountant and I can tell you that all too often, it is the PRIVATE company owner who is also a classified as an "unwilling taxpayer." I'll be the first person to admit that even my father hid thousands this way and we grew up in a 1600 sf house (we were not rich)! Until we know the impact on the loss of our tax base from shady accounting practices, it will be hard to even calculate the average real tax rate that we pay as a community. What am I doing to fix it? Anything and everything that somebody with little economic resources can. Unfortunately, that isn't sufficient to move the needle much. Maybe someday...
Hal Schneider
11:15 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
Random,
If a business owner (or anyone for that matter) is committing tax fraud, they should go to jail. Period. If they are using the existing tax code to their own best benefit, good for them. If you don't like what the tax code allows them to do, maybe the problem is with the tax code!
Random
12:29 am on Friday, March 16, 2012
Changing the tax code is something we may both be able to agree on.
Marc
9:05 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
Where is it written that public transportation is suppose to make money? The whole idea is to get people from one place to another cheaply and with ease. to open up new corridors for business to open and expand. Hundred of businesses opened around the Metro sops in the DC area. Why should Atlanta not bloom the same. Also at this time to take cars off the roads for know other reason than the massive costs of repairs to those roads caused by millions of trips every year
Hal Schneider
11:17 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
Where is it written that I as a taxpayer am responsible for providing transportation for others?
Bill Evelyn
9:12 am on Friday, March 16, 2012
Marc - " The whole idea is to get people from one place to another cheaply ..." It doesn't get them there cheaply. It's extremely expensive and you pay for it in taxes. If the operation doesn't make a profit, make money in your words then its a losing expensive proposition. DC is NOT blooming from mass transit, its blooming because the gub'mint is expanding faster than the private sector.
Marc
8:04 am on Friday, March 16, 2012
Hal,
I am a staunch supporter of less Government all around. But when a project like expanding Marta could bring more business to the region, create many temp and permanent jobs how is that not a win win?. The people who do not drive help pay for the roads you drive on so your argument does not hold water. I am afraid attitudes like yours will keep this region in the economic dark ages,
In the DC area lawyer and landscaper both take the Metro. DC gets a huge influx of business from suburbia's people going to the museums and restaurants. And all around each metro stop in suburbia, shops of all types sprung up creating thousands of jobs and paying millions in taxes. So again I say, win, win,
Marc
12:00 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
Bill,
You are dead wrong. I lived in the DC area from 1964 to 2004. I watched the growth happen around every new Metro stop built. The Metro is jammed full every morning and every evening. If you are not at a Metro station by 6am you will not find a place to park.And has great use all day long. This is because as I said before, It goes some where. It brings the people from the suburbs into DC quickly and cheaper than if you were to drive and pay 10.00 a day in parking. And on the weekends it is used heavily also. Same in NY, same in everyplace that the train was built to go out to the suburbs and/or built to actually take you some where of importance. Until Marta comes out to the suburbs, it will never be effective. Ride a train to work for a week and you will never want to drive to work again. Close down Metro in DC and see what a mess you would have.There is also a train that goes from Richmond Va to DC and one that goes from Charlestown WV to DC All are heavily used. No government program is suppose to make money. If that was the case all State and National parks would be closed. Some things are just done for the good of the people. (some things) .
Bill Evelyn
12:46 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
Marc - its NOT CHEAPER. The people subsidize it with their taxes. The only reason they need the Metro is due to the size and growth of the gub'mint. A gub'mint that steals from the people and subsidizes economically unfeasible things. AMTRAK is one. Face it, you like Socialism and big gub'mint that is why you support it.
Marc
12:31 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
i will propose a compromise to expanding Marta as a train. Build the Hot lane on 400 and expand the one on 85 to Gainesville. Additionally build a hot lane up 75 to Chattanooga and another to Macon. But instead of allowing cars run a Tram system on tires. No rails need to be built and it would serve the same purpose of reducing the traffic and still have business grow around the stops. I bet Wal-Mart , The Outlet Mall and Home Depot in Dawsonville would be happy to allow commuters to use their parking lots if it was brought up that far.
Bill Evelyn
12:48 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
Marc - Hot lanes are the dumbest thing in the world. They cause traffic. You remove a piece of road real estate and transfer it to a minority of drivers. The majority of drivers share less road real estate. If you think the Tram System is such a good idea start a corporation. Build up a business plan and get investors to buy your Bonds. Buy the needed real estate, buy the equipment and operate it. I hope you make a fortune. Frankly your idea is not that prescient, because if it was economically feasible it would have already been done.
Marc
2:52 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
Bill,
Your name calling is a sure sign of you narrow mindedness. Who listens to someone who cannot have a discussion with narrow minded views? On either side. The problem we have here in America are the lines drawn in the sand. Just have one view different and the Scarlet Letter is attached to you. Pretty much like walking through life with blinders. I threw out the Tram idea just to see if you had any shades of grey in you. Thank you for clarifying your lack of peripheral vision.I have made my point and you have shone your colors. I always voted Republican in the past although I have decided this time to vote for whoever is not in office. My version of term limits. Pretty socialist of me huh?
Bill Evelyn
3:38 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
Marc - I didn't call you a name. I called you socialist minded. That is a political ideology not a disparaging name. The marxist ideologies, socialist ideologies, conservative ideologies, anarchist ideologies all sorts of ideologies.
What I do find very confusing is when you call a Conservative a Conservative they don't care. When you call a Marxist a Marxist they don't care. When you call a Socialist a Socialist they don't care. But if you call a Socialist hiding out as a deceptiCON they hate it. When you call a Socialist hiding out as a NEOCON they hate it.
Marc
3:42 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
You hold on to your perceptions Bill. If that is what gets you through the day. Anyone who knows me would laugh at you for thinking I am a Socialist. I am laughing now. Good luck and I look forward to future discussions.
Bill Evelyn
4:10 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
Marc - I think my exact statement said; " Face it, you like Socialism and big gub'mint that is why you support it." Did I claim you were a Socialist. Since you took such offense I think you are a deceptiCON hiding behind fake phoney conservatism that embraces Socialism. You like the comfort of gub'mint doing for you what should be done by other individuals - NOT gub'mint. That would mean the political ideology of deceptive conservatism. Again not an insult.
Marc
4:34 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
If you believe I like Socialism (which I do not) would that not make me a Socialist? Is not deceptiCON name calling? I dislike being called a Socialist because I am not one. Not because I am one and am hiding. I hide from nothing and no one. When I talk a point I try to leave my emotions out of it and talk the points of the augment. I respect other views if they have fact behind them. Done with this thread for now, We are going to have to agree to disagree. Hope you have a great weekend!
Hal Schneider
9:22 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
Marc,
I would recommend that you do some research and truly get a full understanding of U.N. Agenda 21. I have a feeling that you have fallen into the trap that has been laid so cleverly for you without realizing what the grand plan is. If you truly saw the total scheme of what is happening and why, I believe you would have second thoughts about your position on this topic. If not, then you are not the conservative that you think you are.
Marc
9:56 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
Hal,
I do not now nor would I ever believe in a one world government. Nor do I claim to be a Conservative. I would never pass the abortion litmus test. I am a Independent with Republican leanings. Again I say if one steps out of the narrow ,straight walkway that Conservatives and libs alike travel down, you get booted of either. That is why Independents decide who is President. They chose the party that insults their integrity the least at the time of election.
Hal Schneider
10:07 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012
One world government is the ultimate goal of Agenda 21. Read about the detailed steps to get there and you will understand what I am referring to. I apologize for calling you a conservative. I probably should have figured that out on my own.