MARTA is trying to be "SMARTA"

You may have heard lately that MARTA has gotten serious about persuing a "Northern Expansion"... The plan is being called Connect400 (learn more). Other than a very small minority that seems to have forgotten that they live near a City and not in the middle of Montana, the support is overwhelmingly positive for SOMETHING to be done.

There are a few options on the table: (this list is not all encompassing, but does cover the most popular)

1. Run a "Bus Rapid Transit" (or BRT) Line north from the North Springs Station up to Alpharetta and potentially further north to Cumming. This is an interesting proposal because it does help with having the buses avoid 400 traffic when making their way South to North Springs. However, that is ALL that this plan really does. It still forces those of us that live North of the River to change modes of transportation. We still would take a "bus-to-a-train". This would, at best, reduce our travel time by 5-10 minutes. Not exactly a great use of capital.

2. Extend "Light Rail" in a very similar fashion to the BRT plan (see above). Unfortunately, this idea is even worse as it is more expensive than Option 1 and would provide the exact same result.

3. Extend "Heavy Rail" North from North Springs up to Windward Parkway (and potentially further in the future). This is a plan to extend the current "Red" line that stops at North Springs further North to Windward Parkway with stops being added at Northridge, Holcomb Bridge, Mansell, North Point Mall, and Windward Parkway. This is a plan that has some real excitement and purpose. For those currently commuting from "North Fulton" (And I include anyone north of the River for this discussion), this would mean no longer having to cram onto 400 (or Roswell Road) with everyone else, in order to get over one of the two existing river crossings. (See previous post about that trainwreck...) You could drive (on surface streets) to the nearest MARTA station. Park your car and take ONE mode of transportation into Atlanta.

As an example, for those currently living in North Roswell/South Alpharetta and commuting to Buckhead: today's commute (if you try to take as much mass transit as possible) takes you 15 minutes (via car) to get to Mansell Park-And-Ride, 5 minutes to wait for the bus (if you're lucky), 20 minutes (via bus) to get to North Springs, 10 minutes to wait for the next train since you missed your regular one (usually), 15 minute train ride to Buckhead. Even if your office is only 5 minutes from the Buckhead Station that is 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to work, door-to-door. (Lots of empirical data here...)

If Option 3 was implemented, you'd drive 15 minutes to Old Milton Station (near 400), potentially wait 5 minutes for the next train, and then 20 minutes later you're in Buckhead, and 5 minutes after that, you're at work. That is a total of 45 minutes to work: Saving you 25 minutes EACH WAY. Plus, the fact that this commute is a single-mode-of-travel takes out all the stress involved in running from the bus to the train and hoping you make your connection... which you rarely make.

Extending Heavy Rail northward would lower commute times, take more cars off the road, and make commuting (heaven forbid) less stressful. Sounds like a good investment to me! ..But I ride MARTA from Holcomb Bridge on a regular basis.  What say you?

Here's a map of the proposed allignments.

Comments

[Rob]

Word on the street is that Heavy Rail has little support from Alpharetta.

[Scott Long]

You''re right about the change of modes being a big barrier to use. Oddly enough my best experience with MARTA was before the North Springs extension. I lived in Martins Landing and worked at Lenox Park. The bus stopped inside King's Market by the hotel and went straight to Lenox station. I walked to the bus stop, got on the bus, opened a book, never looked up, and before i knew it i was at work. A great commuting experience. If i recall correctly there have been 3 _downgrades_ since then:

- First, the bus ended at North Springs instead of Lenox requiring a wait and mode change.
- Then the bus didn't even go to North Springs - it went to Mansell Park and Ride where you'd wait for a different bus to get to North Springs, then the train to Lenox
- Then they stopped bus service east of 400 altogether (which they have recently restarted, though now i work in Alpharetta so it's too late...)

I think wider bus coverage has more potential to take cars off the road. Buses in conjunction with heavy rail would be even better but the buses are more able to get near people who aren't driving so i give more weight to bus coverage. A heavy rail station that primarily serves cars that drive to it can take no more cars off the road than the size of its parking lot.

[Andy]

So true about heavy rail stations that primarily servers cars. With the exception of North Point Mall, there is nothing at most of those proposed stations within a reasonable walking distance. There is a lot of offices around those areas but most are still half a mile to a mile away. Not everyone is going to make that walk in the US. Now if there were some proposed Transit Oriented Developments to come along with this (which may be their angle for a Public Private Partnership for this), maybe you're on to something.

[planner guy]

A couple comments. The extensions, whether rail or bus, would not go to Cumming, which is in Forsyth County. MARTA has to remain within the confines of Fulton/DeKalb. All three options - light rail, BRT, heavy rail would terminate at Windward Pkwy.

Also, some of the Alpharetta Council members have spoken out about heavy rail; however, it was clear from the public meeting that the citizens of Alpharetta are supportive.

Regarding TOD. Some transit oriented development is already on the way - namely the Avalon development. Surely more developments will be proposed if this transit project ever comes to fruition. Pedestrian/streetscape upgrades will be sorely needed near the stations to create better access, as most of the interchanges (where the stations are conceptually composed) are nowhere close to pedestrian friendly right now.

[cqholt]

The office parks could run shuttle buses that stop at several office parks. This is the same concept that is currently in use for Perimeter Center offices. Then there is always the option to ride a bike?
North Fulton is growing and if that growth is to continue and the area stay prosperous, transit will need to be extended to the area. Widening 400 is not an option.

[cqholt]

The office parks could run shuttle buses that stop at several office parks. This is the same concept that is currently in use for Perimeter Center offices. Then there is always the option to ride a bike?
North Fulton is growing and if that growth is to continue and the area stay prosperous, transit will need to be extended to the area. Widening 400 is not an option.

[Daniel Noto]

Scott and Andy- Both great points! I think that, hopefully, we'll see some east-west bus routes once the stations get extended northward. It will not be unlike Manhattan (New York City). Nearly all of their subways (above 14th street) run north-south and the only way to get east-west are the "crosstown buses". This would be a great option for North Fulton. Use buses that just run east-west at Holcomb Bridge; Old Milton; Windward Parkway.

Great points everyone! I'm glad to hear that the "common sense majority" made enough noise to drown out the "anti-city/anti-development/anti-progress" minority in Alpharetta.

MARTA, I hope you're listening. The people want more Heavy Rail!

Thanks-

Daniel Noto

[Scott Long]

Thanks Daniel -

For feeding Heavy Rail stations, we should not forget the Roswell/Alpharetta/Hopefully Forsyth greenway. The greenway doesn't quite make it to SE quadrant of Holcomb Bridge and 400 (yet!), but it is at 400 and Mansell, and it is at 400 and Encore Parkway*. There must be many tens of thousands of potential commuters represented by that access.

I currently live in Roswell (Martin's Landing) and bike to Windward Parkway a couple times a week via the greenway. I would definitely augment that with a few heavy rail trips from Holcomb Bridge to Windward if i could, and what a dream if my son who i hope will go to my alma mater Georgia Tech could ride MARTA home on friday nights with his laundry!

*An aside: Encore Parkway is now on its third name since i've lived here. When we moved here it was Maxwell Road. When they finished up Westside Parkway it became Center Bridge Road. When the anphitheater was built it became Encore Parkway. What will it be named next?

[Daniel Noto]

Scott-

Good luck on your son attending GT! I also graduated from there! Go Tech!

I agree that having a way to (god forbid) leave the car at home altogether and just ride your bike to the heavy rail for North Fulton would be fantastic!! But let's just get the train up here first and go from there!

Thanks for your support!!

Daniel Noto

[Michael D Hadden]

Nice comments folks. One thing I wanted to add is that the dotted yellow lines on the map represent what would be east-west bus routes. Ideally, I would hope they were BRT with dedicated lanes but a simple bus route would probably accomplish 90% of the job. People could bike or walk to a bus station and take the bus straight to the train station. That would be amazing.

[Dana]

We really need Marta on Holcomb Bridge in East Roswell.