MARTA Atlanta Light Rail Streetcar & Beltline Project

superbad wrote:The Atlanta streetcar will use LRV not streetcars... construction will now begin in fall 2011... I wonder how many Siemens S70 vehicles have been ordered?? I hope they do not use the existing Marta paint scheme on these either..

Houston's Metro also recently ordered 19 Siemens Ultra Short S70 light rail vehicles for $83 Million. That's slightly more than $4 Million per vehicle. Houston is making changes to match their older regular S70 vehicles. So, it's possible Atlanta's order of $9 Million might be for 3 vehicles, definitely 2.

The Ultra Short S70s are around 80 feet in length, the regular S70s are around 95 feet in length. The Ultra Short versions minimum turning radius is 66 feet, the regular S70s minimum turning radius is 82 feet. Skoda streetcars have minimum turning radius of 60 feet, antique streetcars had minimum turning radius of 50 feet (some as low as 36 feet). The S70 version Atlanta order is closer to streetcars than light rail vehicles in many ways.

Atlanta Streetcar project under way - Atlanta Business Chronicle
Construction started on Feb 1, and the 2.6-mi line will go in the downtown tourist district, connecting Centennial Olympic Park, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, the CNN Center, and the historic Auburn Avenue corridor.

It's the Downtown Loop in the Atlanta Streetcar, Inc. map

Its builders may later build a Peachtree Corridor line, a long north-south line that roughly parallels MARTA's north-south line between Buckhead and West End Mall. However, it will have many more stops.

I used the maps available online to lay out the route using Google. Coupled with streetview, it should give a slightly better idea of where this is and what's around:
https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=21 ... 1,0.033023

I have not been down to the area to see the progress yet. I assume there is still not much to see? I wonder how long it will be before we see some rail in the ground?

Either I'm asleep at the switch, or I haven't seen this in the news lately. Haven't read it in the Bus Chronicle yet.

I finally had time to go down and see whats going on with construction.... it is happening in a grand scale about 4 blocks of auburn avenue are torn up for utility relocations. this project is going 24/7...I did not drive the entire route. does anyone know if construction is happening in more than one place yet?

Atlanta's order is for 3 vehicles off the Salt Lake City contract.

lpetrich wrote:Atlanta Streetcar project under way - Atlanta Business Chronicle
Construction started on Feb 1, and the 2.6-mi line will go in the downtown tourist district, connecting Centennial Olympic Park, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, the Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, the CNN Center, and the historic Auburn Avenue corridor.

It's the Downtown Loop in the Atlanta Streetcar, Inc. map

Its builders may later build a Peachtree Corridor line, a long north-south line that roughly parallels MARTA's north-south line between Buckhead and West End Mall. However, it will have many more stops.

No offense, but that's not a long distance. I can walk 2.6 miles. That's roughly the distance from Columbus Circle to Union Square. I don't think the project is worth it if it's that short.

Forest Glen wrote:No offense, but that's not a long distance. I can walk 2.6 miles. That's roughly the distance from Columbus Circle to Union Square. I don't think the project is worth it if it's that short.

It is the first of many segments for streetcars in Atlanta. There will be many more miles built as funding becomes available.

Which routing is better? 10th or North Av?

North Ave or 10th St: Which is better for 'crosstown' streetcar route?

It has not been determined whether the 'crosstown' line would initially utilize 10th Street or North Avenue. Which do you think would be better served?

The Atlanta BeltLine and Streetcar projects will build 10.2 miles of new transit, with approximately five miles on the Atlanta BeltLine corridor and five miles on city streets through midtown and downtown, connecting to the Atlanta Streetcar (now underway) and MARTA in three locations.

The BeltLine referendum projects would be built in four segments:
•Atlanta Streetcar Extension West: This project would build an extension of the Atlanta Streetcar with access to the Peachtree Center MARTA station, Georgia World Congress Center and Georgia Tech.
•Crosstown / Midtown Connection: This leg would build streetcar transit across Midtown, connecting the Atlanta BeltLine’s east and westsides and either the Midtown or North Ave. MARTA Station.
•Atlanta BeltLine West: This segment would be built directly on the old rail corridor on the Atlanta BeltLine’s westside and run 4.9 miles from a new MARTA station at Donald Lee Hollowell near Maddox Park and run south to the Kroger Citi-Center.
•Atlanta BeltLine East: This section would also be built on the old rail corridor, alongside the current Eastside Trail. Transit would run from Piedmont Park, through the crosstown connection, and down to meet the Atlanta Streetcar.

http://www.twitplus.co.uk/t/84r

I wasn't aware the current streetcar project and beltline were intertwined like this. Good news. Do you have a preference per this article on routing? How does this fit into MMT at the Gulch? RT North Ave or 10th St: Which is better for 'crosstown' streetcar route? - Midtown, GA Patch midtown.patch.com "The Atlanta BeltLine and Streetcar projects will use the same vehicles and systems. For example, riders would have a single-seat ride from Piedmont Park to downtown with no transfers.

Whichever 'crosstown' route is chosen – 10th St. or North Ave. – the plan would be to also construct on the other route in the future. Consultants have been working with BeltLine officials on a transit implementation strategy. Current diagrams show North Ave. being the route used, but that decision has not been made according to Sweeney, who indicated that a decision could be announced “within the next month or two.”"

http://saportareport.com/blog/2012/07/m ... streetcar/

MARTA has shepherded the first tier of a required environmental impact study through to the conclusion of its public comment period. On Monday, MARTA’s board is slated to approve an additional expense to cover the cost of acquiring vehicles for the transit system that is to open in the fall of 2013.

Little in either measure is necessarily exciting. But both are required steps on the long path toward building two transit systems that are expected to reshape the way people travel around the regional core of metro Atlanta.

The environmental impact study contains nothing that was not disclosed when it was released last autumn. That report elicited comments that were mostly positive.

The news is that on July 2 the final public comment phase was to be concluded, Janide Sidifall, a MARTA planner, said at a June 25 meeting of the MARTA board’s Planning Committee.

So far, nobody has yet posted about the defeat of the sales-tax referendum yesterday. What impact will that have upon the Atlanta rail projects now supposedly underway?

Excerpts from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
http://www.ajc.com/news/transportation- ... 88552.html

Voters reject transportation tax
By Ariel Hart

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Distrustful of government and riven by differences, metro Atlanta voters on Tuesday rejected a $7.2 billion transportation plan that business leaders have called an essential bulwark against regional decline.


Voter revolt

The metro Atlanta result was no surprise to independent pollsters who in recent weeks predicted an overwhelming loss, fueled by citizens' distrust of government and the metro area's splintered transportation desires.

Voters interviewed Tuesday — urban transit fans and suburban drivers — confirmed the predictions.



The metro Atlanta tax would have built a $6.14 billion list of 157 regional projects — relieving congestion at key Interstate highway chokepoints and opening 29 miles of new rail track to passengers, among others — as well as $1 billion worth of smaller local projects. The list was negotiated by 21 mayors and county commissioners from all 10 counties, and it contained about half transit and half roads.

Basically, we'll sit on a trillion more studies for the next forty years. That's the impact.

Saw this linked on twitter: http://www.peachpundit.com/2012/08/01/f ... portation/

FWIW:

“On public transportation, yesterday’s vote slams the door on further expansion of our rail network any time soon. Neither I nor the Legislature has much of an appetite for new investments until there are significant reforms in how MARTA operates.