To rail or not to rail
Area leaders say a complementary blend of light and heavy rail service will help ease Atlanta's congestion challenges.
Bobby Hickman
January 7, 2008
Is expanded rail service the answer to Metro Atlanta's traffic congestion problem? Well, it's not
necessarily the answer. Area leaders say the answer lies in a combination of heavy and light rail
service.
In an exclusive interview with
Business to Business, Dr. Beverly Scott, who only weeks ago became GM of the
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), says Atlanta has benefited from tremendous
growth, high quality of life and fairly low costs. But the things that are strangling us now are
traffic congestion, unfettered and undisciplined growth, and a lack of investment in
infrastructure.
"MARTA is an important player in this entire transportation Rubik's cube," says George
Israel, CEO and chairman of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. The chamber is working toward
increased funding for transportation issues, including highways and rail service. While more road
funds are needed, Israel says you can't just continue to pave parking lots: You've got to get some
of that traffic off the highways. Georgia needs rapid rail, either through the Georgia Rapid
Transit Authority or MARTA to reduce road use. "MARTA being turned down by some of the other metro
counties back in the '60s and the '70s was one of the biggest mistakes ever made," Israel says.
MARTA initially was proposed as a five-county regional system for Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb,
Gwinnett and Clayton counties. But Cobb voters failed to approve a referendum to participate in
MARTA in the mid-1960s, and Gwinnett and Clayton citizens overwhelmingly voted down taxes to fund
MARTA in 1968. Only Fulton, DeKalb and the City of Atlanta approved and funded the system.
Scott says Georgia ranks fourth lowest in terms of what it puts into infrastructure, with
those funds going strictly to highways. In fact, MARTA is the only regional transit system that
doesn't get state funding – a fact Scott says is "quite unusual."
Asked if she plans to seek Georgia funding to support MARTA, Scott says yes. "There's no way
we're going to remain where we've been if we don't have a turnaround in the investment in
transportation. We've got to connect all the dots, and will need to make some significant changes
on a going-forward basis."
Scott not only is a proponent of rail systems but of integrated transportation solutions as
well. "We need everything in the palette: good roads, top-notch pedestrian amenities, and an
extremely good transportation network that includes rail as a platform."
No one system is better than any other, Scott says. "It's making sure we have the right
mobility solution for the right location," she says. "MARTA's current footprint for heavy rail is
very supportable within the core portion of the region where we've had the extremely high density
and the land use that supports that. I do see some expansion of heavy rail, but it's not the
solution for the entire multi-county Atlanta region because the density patterns simply do not
support it."
Scott expects to see some expansion of MARTA's heavy rail. "[For the region], I expect to see
the introduction of light rail," she says. "We've had phenomenal growth in this region but it's
extremely low density. As a result, heavy rail as a major extension much beyond the Perimeter is
just not going to be cost-effective. And it's really not the right application."
In fact, Scott expects "a quite extensive light rail network" as the solution for such areas
as the fast-growing northern suburbs. She foresees commuter rail, bus rapid transit, enhanced bus
service, and neighborhood and community circulation systems. The latter systems would funnel
commuters into larger transit networks during the commuting periods, as well as provide better
access for aging populations during non-peak hours.
"It's not wrong to focus on commutation, because that's related to traffic congestion," Scott
says. "However, only one in five trips are commuter trips, so we need to think about solutions the
other 80 percent of transportation needs as well. We need to stop thinking modally and parochially,
and start thinking about what is the best combination of transportation solutions for a particular
corridor."
Instead of looking at a GDOT project or a MARTA project, Scott says we should be building a
project that's the best solution for a particular corridor.
Through transportation systems and land use, MARTA's role in economic development is
critical. From the standpoint of job creation and employment impact, recent projections show that
through 2030, MARTA will have been responsible for $10.5 billion in direct economic development
impact. "That's largely because of the catalytic effect we have on development when there is smart
and supportive transit-oriented development around our major transportation network," Scott says. A
recent University of Georgia study also showed MARTA is expected to create 45,500 jobs in the
region by 2055.
Has traffic congestion affected Georgia's economic development? "I haven't seen
transportation deter anyone from coming to Georgia," Israel says. "But if the current trend
continues, eventually it could have an impact. Most businesses know we've enjoyed rapid growth,
which brings complications. So they want to know what we're going to do about it – as a region and
as a state."
Much of Scott's time during the first 60 days at MARTA has included reaching out to other
leaders in the region. "We aren't an island here in Atlanta; the challenge is how we knit this all
together."
She says it would be unrealistic to expect there will be a single provider for area transit.
The region must find shared solutions so business travelers, for example, can negotiate the system.
"We need things that will make it possible for a person to live in Cobb or Gwinnett or Atlanta to
move around the region," Scott says. "The public doesn't need to pull out a pink card and a green
card and a yellow card just to get around. If they want to get somewhere, they shouldn't need a
glossary of phone numbers. That's the challenge we have in building a seamless system – one that
needs the entire region to collaborate on solutions for our common public."