Planned MARTA Transportation Project For I-20 East-West Corridor Likely Won't Include Station In East Atlanta Village

In what promises to be one of it most ambitious projects since its creation, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority plans a $800 million to $900 million project that could bring a long-hoped-for transit station to Southeast Atlanta.

But the project, which would create a mass transit corridor along I-20 between Stonecrest Mall and Downtown, likely won't include a station in East Atlanta Village, which some Villagers had hoped for in other regional transportation initiatives.

Instead, under one of three plans being considered, a transit station could be built in the neighboring Glenwood Park community because it would intersect with the BeltLine. (The other two plans under consideration would bypass East Atlanta and Glenwood Park altogether.)

The BeltLine, which is an independent public-private initiative, aims at creating a 22-mile necklace of parks, trails and transit around the city, using existing railroad tracks.

A portion of that railroad loop touches Glenwood Park on Glenwood Avenue SE  at Bill Kennedy Way SE, just east of the Jackson High School campus.

Building a station in the Village and then another one to connect with the BeltLine's transit offering would not make sense, MARTA officials and project consultants said Tuesday during a public meeting on the MARTA project, called the East Transit Initiative.

So officials are trying to gauge public sentiment on its preference for which neighborhood residents in Southeast Atlanta would rather see such a station be built.

A station would be built further east of the Village — on I-20 at or near Gresham and Flat Shoals roads. It also is possible another station could be placed between that area and the East Atlanta/Glenwood Park neighborhoods, project managers said.

Tuesday's meeting is one of three scheduled this week, including one at 7 p.m. Thurdsay at Greenforest Baptist Church in Decatur.

MARTA officials and consultants say commute times along I-20 between Stonecrest Mall and Downtown will only get longer — beyond 90 minutes for some motorists as — DeKalb county continues to grow.

MARTA, which is working on the project with DeKalb County and the city of Atlanta, is seeking transportation and infrastructure development funding from Washington through the Federal Transit Administration.

The complete project could take 10 years from start to finish, though several segments could be finished much sooner, said John T. Crocker, MARTA's director of development and regional coordination.

He likened it to the "visionary" thinking that led to MARTA's creation in 1965 and this is a significant step in the system's evolution.

"The system we have today grew out of people who were visionaries for their time," Crocker said. "They were thinking ahead. At some point the region quit dreaming and the region is dreaming again."

The project itself is broken into two parts.

The first part looks at the I-20 transit bringing commuters from Stonecrest to the edge of Atlanta's core downtown.

And within that there are three options for which MARTA seeks public input:

• A transit line — light rail or rapid bus system running along I-20 through the East Atlanta and Glenwood Park neighborhoods and directly into Downtown.
• A transit system along the same route on I-20 but instead of going through East Atlanta and Glenwood Park, veer off through Kirkwood and connect directly with MARTA's Edgewood-Candler Park station.

• Extending the MARTA line that ends at Indian Creek down I-285 and then east along I-20 to Stonecrest. This would bypass East Atlanta and Glenwood Park, as well.

The second component is downtown itself. MARTA has eight transportation scenarios, including connections to the King Memorial or Inman Park stations, under consideration that would link to whatever is built on I-20.

The agency is still studying what type of transit would make sense for both phases. For example, the I-20 corridor could have a rapid bus system or an elevated train akin to systems in Charlotte or MARTA's own rails elevated rails between the Medical Center and Dunwoody stations. Similarly, the Downtown portion could have light rail or streetcars.

There also are other considerations, such as maintaining historic in-town neighborhoods and other cultural concerns such as Civil War battle sites in East Atlanta, officials said.

Each scenario has benefits and disadvantages and how much the project ultimately costs will depend on what the final project turns out to be, Crocker said.

East Atlanta's business community of neighborhood bars, restaurants and music venues has had the long-held hope for a station in the Village or close to it as way to get more patrons into the Village center.

But, this plan is more focused on getting people to and from work, said Jack Gruendler, chairman of the transportation committee of the East Atlanta Community Association. Gruendler attended Tuesday night's meeting.

"As the EACA representative I wholly support transit going, through, past, around the Village. I also want a station that serves the Village as well as it can," Gruendler said, citing a prior study that favored a station at Moreland Avenue near I-20.

"At this point, because the BeltLine is on the table, whereas it wasn't before, a lot of people agree that there ought to be connectivity between I-20 and  the BeltLine."

He said he would support building a station near I-20 and Maynard Terrace, which would still serve East Atlanta and connect people with the trails at nearby Walker Park and cyclists to the bike route on Whitefoord Avenue SE.