2012 Transportation Vote - Light Rail

[BlindFatSnake]

didn't add the poll

[Fiorenza]

When people aren't going to work, there's no transportation problem.

[mike1986]

Originally Posted by Fiorenza

When people aren't going to work, there's no transportation problem.

It took me 40 minutes to go 6.5 miles today. There is a transportation problem...

[Fiorenza]

We need a rifle shot approach, not a shotgun to deal with your transportation problem.

[Fiorenza]

In the regional plan as legislated, the roadbuilders are the winners; city of Atlanta is the loser.

[WestsideATL]

Fiorenza, I don't see any harm about discussing priorities. There might actually be one or two transit projects in the TSPLOST list.

I just hope people don't get their hopes up that we're going to have some huge expansion of LRT or streetcar throughout the metro in the first 10 years, because it's not going to happen. DOT is going to stack the project list full of public-private managed lane projects and arterial road upgrades and transit will get the scraps.

It's a small sample size so far, but I'm surprised the BeltLine is out in front. Gotta love the BeltLine homers. Really, at this point, all it is is an economic development project. Someday, sure, but that's a future need once the land use and development patterns in the corridor start to change. Not to beat a dead horse, but there are existing corridor needs, where people are already traveling and are seriously congested (Clifton, I-285, etc.) that should be addressed in the 2012-2022 timeframe.

[mike1986]

Originally Posted by WestsideATL

Fiorenza, I don't see any harm about discussing priorities. There might actually be one or two transit projects in the TSPLOST list.

I just hope people don't get their hopes up that we're going to have some huge expansion of LRT or streetcar throughout the metro in the first 10 years, because it's not going to happen. DOT is going to stack the project list full of public-private managed lane projects and arterial road upgrades and transit will get the scraps.

It's a small sample size so far, but I'm surprised the BeltLine is out in front. Gotta love the BeltLine homers. Really, at this point, all it is is an economic development project. Someday, sure, but that's a future need once the land use and development patterns in the corridor start to change. Not to beat a dead horse, but there are existing corridor needs, where people are already traveling and are seriously congested (Clifton, I-285, etc.) that should be addressed in the 2012-2022 timeframe.

There will most likely be a lot of managed lanes projects, but if they don't include road projects, people will most likely not vote for this. In terms of transit priorities:

1) I think the multi-modal station is very important (especially to help boost Downtown) and commuter rail to the surrounding counties (not as expensive to build either).

2) I'd like to see the streetcar on the list too and I would use it all the time.

3)For MARTA, ideally if they could extend it to Roswell and Alpharetta, out to Fulton Industrial/Six Flags, to Norcross as originally planned, and to the Emory area.

4) For the Beltline, the parks and greenways are great, but I'm not sure if the transit component is as important as other corridors right now. Although, I do understand that if they build transit, it will help speed up development and densify the entire corridor, which would be good for the city. I'm on the fence with the Beltline.

Other than managed lanes, I don't know what to do about the top end of 285. Light rail from 85 to 75 might work... it could start at the Doraville MARTA station but what transit line does it connect to near 75? There is no MARTA station over there. Maybe a future commuter rail station or an extension into Cobb County?

[WestsideATL]

After going back and looking at the poll, I think that the transit projects need to be discussed at two different levels. The mode-corridor discussion convolutes things.

The first issue is what kind of projects should be prioritized in the first 10 years and what will fly politically in the TSPLOST referendum? Commuter/Intercity Rail? MARTA extensions? Light Rail? or Streetcar? Then, once we know what type of projects we need to prioritize, we can delve into evaluating the specific corridors.

My guess is that interjurisdictional light rail will entice the most votes. Rail to Athens or Macon has the biggest geographic reach, but they go into other TSPLOST districts and its not clear how the TSPLOST would work with those types of projects. MARTA extensions are going to be very expensive and relatively short. Streetcars are the cheapest rail alternative but will only serve one jurisdiction. That leaves us with light rail.

[Fiorenza]

Even with TSPLOST there wouldn't be enough money to extend light rail into enough geographical locations to make it available to enough voters to entice them.

TSPLOST is going to be 90+% roads, with just a little mass transit for window dressing. I expect many of you to end up voting against it.