Atlanta has notoriously bad public transit. This transit system serves only a small fraction of the metropolitan area. The Atlanta metropolitan area has 10 counties. (Atlanta Regional Roundtable) Only two (DeKalb and Fulton) are served by MARTA, the region’s primary provider of public transit. Another three (Clayton, Cobb, and Gwinnett) have independent bus services. Even within these counties, public transit is sparse, infrequent, and inconsistent.
Atlanta’s transit has not expanded significantly in decades, even as the city has grown rapidly. This stagnation is finally coming to an end. Georgia’s state legislature is currently debating the Transportation Investment Act. This act will allow the Atlanta metropolitan area to hold a referendum on an additional 1% sales tax that would be devoted to a list of planned infrastructure projects. (Meyer) This list includes several light rail projects within the city of Atlanta. The largest of these is the BeltLine, “a network of public parks, multi-use trails and transit along a historic 22-mile railroad corridor circling downtown and connecting 45 neighborhoods directly to each other.” (BeltLine)
The BeltLine lists eight specific goals. These goals include contributing to a unified Atlanta transit system, promoting economic development and affordable housing, connecting communities within Atlanta, expanding green space, and promoting environmental sustainability. (BeltLine Environmental Statement) Although the Beltline may meet these goals, it will do little to wean Atlanta from a car dominated society. Neither Atlanta’s horrible interstate congestion nor its ubiquitous car dependency will be much affected.
The BeltLine will be entirely within the city of Atlanta; it will provide no service to the suburbs. This limited service area will allow the BeltLine to fulfill its stated goals and prevent it from fulfilling the broader goals of public transit.
The BeltLine will connect many of central Atlanta’s neighborhoods to each other and to MARTA. Atlanta’s high population density allows the BeltLine to connect a large number of people to a large number of opportunity sites, so it should be well used. The parks and green space that will surround the BeltLine will also encourage people to come to the BeltLine. This high ridership provides an incentive for businesses to open along the BeltLine, promting economic development in the area.
The city of Atlanta provides unusually low costs for constructing transit. Unlike most other cities, central Atlanta still has land easily available for transit lines and expanded green space. This available land in the heart of a major city can only be explained by Atlanta’s history.
Atlanta was founded as an intersection of railroads. Because the railroads were there first, the city grew around them. Even though many of these railroads are now unused, the right of ways remain undeveloped. The BeltLine will be built entirely on existing rail lines. (BeltLine)
Atlanta only became a major city in the last 50 years; its period of explosive growth occurred after cars became the dominant form of transportation in America. The growth therefore occurred almost entirely in the suburbs. Atlanta never had a period of rapid growth during which a lack of transportation opportunities restricted housing options to within the central city. Because of this, Atlanta has fewer high density downtown neighborhoods and more unused land than other major cities.
The available land that the BeltLine has to work with is vital to the success of the project. Without the land, the capital costs would be prohibitively high. Even if this capital were raised, the BeltLine would have to evict people to build the rail line and green corridor. Evictions are politically unpopular, further reducing the chance of the BeltLine’s completion.
Despite all of the success the BeltLine may have in completing its goals within the city of Atlanta, it will prove ineffective at addressing the traffic problems or car dependency of the metropolitan area. These problems are more endemic to the suburbs than to the central city, so no transit system based exclusively in the central city can resolve them.
The BeltLine will encourage residents of central Atlanta to use transit more than they currently do. This could reduce traffic on the roads used predominantly by residents of the central city. However, most of the traffic in the city of Atlanta is arterial: people from the suburbs commute into and out of the central city. The BeltLine will have little or no effect on this traffic. Only major arterial and intra-suburb transit lines could have a significant impact on Atlanta’s traffic problems.
Atlanta’s car dependency, although prevalent throughout the metropolitan area, is especially prominent in the suburbs. The central city has a higher density population, more access to public transit, and less car ownership, and thus is already less car dependent than the suburbs. The BeltLine would help the central city lessen its car dependence further. It will have no effect on the car dependency of the suburbs. Because the majority of the population lives and works in the suburbs, this marginal change in the inner city will have little effect on the car dependence of the metropolitan area as a whole.
Atlanta is beginning to develop its transit system again after a long hiatus. The BeltLine is the first of several light rail or streetcar lines planned for central Atlanta. These transit lines can help to fulfill local economic, social, and environmental goals. However, their limited scope will prevent them from alleviating the problems of a car dominated society for the entire Atlanta metropolitan area. In order to relieve the problems of car dependency, a much more comprehensive and better coordinated transit system must be developed for all of Atlanta’s metropolitan area.
Works Cited
"Atlanta BeltLine Draft Environmental Impact Statement - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 04 Oct. 2011.
Atlanta Regional Roundtable - Penny Sales Tax Referendum to Fund Transportation Projects. Web. 04 Oct. 2011.
BeltLine, Atlanta. Atlanta BeltLine Home. Web. 04 Oct. 2011.
"Metro Atlanta Georgia Map." Georgia's Premier Recreation and Adventure Website. Web. 04 Oct. 2011.
Meyer, Michael. Lecture. ENGL 1101: Rhetoric of Mass Transportation. Georgia Institute of Technology, 30 Sept. 2011.
Atlanta’s transit has not expanded significantly in decades, even as the city has grown rapidly. This stagnation is finally coming to an end. Georgia’s state legislature is currently debating the Transportation Investment Act. This act will allow the Atlanta metropolitan area to hold a referendum on an additional 1% sales tax that would be devoted to a list of planned infrastructure projects. (Meyer) This list includes several light rail projects within the city of Atlanta. The largest of these is the BeltLine, “a network of public parks, multi-use trails and transit along a historic 22-mile railroad corridor circling downtown and connecting 45 neighborhoods directly to each other.” (BeltLine)
The BeltLine lists eight specific goals. These goals include contributing to a unified Atlanta transit system, promoting economic development and affordable housing, connecting communities within Atlanta, expanding green space, and promoting environmental sustainability. (BeltLine Environmental Statement) Although the Beltline may meet these goals, it will do little to wean Atlanta from a car dominated society. Neither Atlanta’s horrible interstate congestion nor its ubiquitous car dependency will be much affected.
The BeltLine will be entirely within the city of Atlanta; it will provide no service to the suburbs. This limited service area will allow the BeltLine to fulfill its stated goals and prevent it from fulfilling the broader goals of public transit.
The BeltLine will connect many of central Atlanta’s neighborhoods to each other and to MARTA. Atlanta’s high population density allows the BeltLine to connect a large number of people to a large number of opportunity sites, so it should be well used. The parks and green space that will surround the BeltLine will also encourage people to come to the BeltLine. This high ridership provides an incentive for businesses to open along the BeltLine, promting economic development in the area.
The city of Atlanta provides unusually low costs for constructing transit. Unlike most other cities, central Atlanta still has land easily available for transit lines and expanded green space. This available land in the heart of a major city can only be explained by Atlanta’s history.
Atlanta was founded as an intersection of railroads. Because the railroads were there first, the city grew around them. Even though many of these railroads are now unused, the right of ways remain undeveloped. The BeltLine will be built entirely on existing rail lines. (BeltLine)
Atlanta only became a major city in the last 50 years; its period of explosive growth occurred after cars became the dominant form of transportation in America. The growth therefore occurred almost entirely in the suburbs. Atlanta never had a period of rapid growth during which a lack of transportation opportunities restricted housing options to within the central city. Because of this, Atlanta has fewer high density downtown neighborhoods and more unused land than other major cities.
The available land that the BeltLine has to work with is vital to the success of the project. Without the land, the capital costs would be prohibitively high. Even if this capital were raised, the BeltLine would have to evict people to build the rail line and green corridor. Evictions are politically unpopular, further reducing the chance of the BeltLine’s completion.
Despite all of the success the BeltLine may have in completing its goals within the city of Atlanta, it will prove ineffective at addressing the traffic problems or car dependency of the metropolitan area. These problems are more endemic to the suburbs than to the central city, so no transit system based exclusively in the central city can resolve them.
The BeltLine will encourage residents of central Atlanta to use transit more than they currently do. This could reduce traffic on the roads used predominantly by residents of the central city. However, most of the traffic in the city of Atlanta is arterial: people from the suburbs commute into and out of the central city. The BeltLine will have little or no effect on this traffic. Only major arterial and intra-suburb transit lines could have a significant impact on Atlanta’s traffic problems.
Atlanta’s car dependency, although prevalent throughout the metropolitan area, is especially prominent in the suburbs. The central city has a higher density population, more access to public transit, and less car ownership, and thus is already less car dependent than the suburbs. The BeltLine would help the central city lessen its car dependence further. It will have no effect on the car dependency of the suburbs. Because the majority of the population lives and works in the suburbs, this marginal change in the inner city will have little effect on the car dependence of the metropolitan area as a whole.
Atlanta is beginning to develop its transit system again after a long hiatus. The BeltLine is the first of several light rail or streetcar lines planned for central Atlanta. These transit lines can help to fulfill local economic, social, and environmental goals. However, their limited scope will prevent them from alleviating the problems of a car dominated society for the entire Atlanta metropolitan area. In order to relieve the problems of car dependency, a much more comprehensive and better coordinated transit system must be developed for all of Atlanta’s metropolitan area.
Works Cited
"Atlanta BeltLine Draft Environmental Impact Statement - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Web. 04 Oct. 2011.
Atlanta Regional Roundtable - Penny Sales Tax Referendum to Fund Transportation Projects. Web. 04 Oct. 2011.
BeltLine, Atlanta. Atlanta BeltLine Home. Web. 04 Oct. 2011.
"Metro Atlanta Georgia Map." Georgia's Premier Recreation and Adventure Website. Web. 04 Oct. 2011.
Meyer, Michael. Lecture. ENGL 1101: Rhetoric of Mass Transportation. Georgia Institute of Technology, 30 Sept. 2011.
I agree that the Beltline will probably do little to help the suburbs, but I think this is a very good start. Getting any form of public transit moving will hopefully lead to creating more and more. Once the Beltline is created than the Atlanta area can focus on connecting it to the suburbs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sam that only the Beltline is too little to solve all of our transportation problems, namely the suburbs. However, like in some cases of our history, the Beltline can act as the first domino in a domino effect. Once that domino falls, all others in line will also fall. This applies to the people. Most people are afraid, if not scared, of change. They don't want to switch something that is working (badly, but still working) for something they are not sure will work. Once they see how successful the Beltline will be, they will want to adopt the same policies and construct similar structures that will transport people from the suburbs to the city and vice-versa
ReplyDeleteBuilding light rail in the suburbs will be much less effective than light rail in the central city. The suburbs do not have the advantages that the inner city has. Suburbia has a much lower population density than the city, more people have alternatives to transit, many suburbs don't have existing rail lines to work with, and there is less readily available cheap land to build these rail lines on.
ReplyDeleteI think the Beltline would help in revitalizing the environment as it plans to integrate both land use and transportation. By creating connectivity and density through the Beltline, people are given the options that may include a car but could also include transit, biking and walking. This would help in ensuring environmental sustainability.
ReplyDelete