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Originally Posted by BlindFatSnake
For example, the proposal to have light rail run from KSU to Cumberland Mall along Cobb Parkway will fall flat due to the lack of connectivity with an existing rail system (MARTA). Other cities will be vying for the same federal funds. KSU to Cumberland is literally a dead end.
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Again, that has never been put forward as a serious proposal, those are just to make consituents happy to have it brought up. You have to remember there is more than one source for funding, and you are wrong that any transit project has to connect to MARTA. Obviously, that makes sense, however you have to keep in mind that Cobb County is a bigger city than Atlanta and has both more people and more employment, but also much of it spread out throughout the county except for Cumberland and Town Center. It also has a different type of layout - much larger arterials lined with medium density development (e.g. 2-3 story condos and dense cluster housing). So the way MARTA works in Atlanta in areas with a street grid won't work in Cobb County. What will work is Cobb County connect to MARTA through Cumberland only initially, perhaps extended to Marietta and Town Center, then a mix of different modes of transit throughout the rest. (It may incidentally happen that Austell gets connected to MARTA simply because there is already a line that ends right outside Austell)
By the way, CCT already connects to MARTA, just not by rail. In fact, when the beltline goes in, "suburbs" can probably connect streetcars into there along main arterials, possibly with the exception of Cumberland and Gwinnett Place.
One of the two concepts with rail as a consideration were always the commuter rail line proposal along the W&A from five points or Lindbergh to Vinings, Cumberland, Smyrna, then Marietta. The other serious transit proposal was along the highway 285 for light rail or BRT on guide-ways from Cumberland to the perimeter, to connect at the Dunwoody Station, and would be part of "new starts". Nothing else is transit-related. The HOT/commuter lanes and collector discussed on I-75 between Cumberland and Kennessaw is highway funding, not rail funding. BRT is an after-thought - essentially to build more HOT lanes so it can be shared with BRT. Though it probably will be done because they have already started North of Town Center.
What I believe will be most effective for Cobb County: Express dedicated LRT (really just dedicated streetcars, possibly slowing down at some points that area heavily walked) on the 10 or so biggest arterials (e.g. Barrett Pkwy, Cobb Parkway, E/W Connector, Windy Hill, Cumberland Parkway, Roswell Rd, I-75, I-285, S. Cobb Drive or Atlanta Rd, Thornton Rd, Veteran's Memorial, Austell Rd/Maxham Rd). Some strategic express connections to the belt-line from the communities flanking Atlanta (Vinings, Smyrna, Mableton, Austell) starting with Atlanta Rd through Bolton to the future Westside Park (a BRT is already proposed on Marietta Blvd). Select smaller arterials and add streetcars sometimes mixed with traffic, and sometimes in medians (Floyd Rd, Canton Rd, Spring Rd, Concord Rd, Powder Spring Street). Then shuttle buses feeding the major villages and condo communities to these streetcar lines.
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I see you'll cashing in on the Beltline by buying up property, but you think the Cumberland to Perimeter line would be a greater economic boon. I don't get the logic how the Beltline is so limited in economic development versus the I-285 arch (Cumberland to Perimeter).
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It hasn't been built yet. There is so much housing inventory in those neighborhoods in Atlanta that aside from right at the stations, it's going to slowly fill in but not overnight. The beltline will have a much larger impact on housing in my opinion than on commerce. You'll see mid-rise mixed-use and office buildings near the stations and along arterials from the stations, but the affect on residential will be probably be up to a half-mile out from the stations. This isn't by accident. Investors start seeding the area first down arterials and near parks and other points of interest. That's what is going on right now in some areas. In other areas, investors have bought up blocks of homes, not done so well, and land banks have boarded them up for later when the beltline goes in. Even though they are ghost-towns now, those areas will actually have the potential to turn the fastest when the belt-line goes in but will require a lot of capital well-coordinated.
The thing any suburban Atlanta resident should like about the beltline is that it connects to so many arterials and will push high-density development and the associated landvalues further out towards . For instance, Atlanta Rd in Smyrna connects directly to the future Westside park on the other end of Marietta Blvd. S. Cobb Drive and Veteran's Memorial will connect to the beltline in Grove Park.
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I envision streetcars as tourist driven, while light rail is a commuter option.
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They are all multi-modal, multi-use options. If you build a light-rail between Cumberland and the Perimeter, it would be used by commuters, but also by shoppers, entertainment-goers and by tourists. For instance, if on Saturday you wanted to go from your house in the perimeter to watch a show in the Cobb Performing Arts Center and eat at Cinco, you would undoubtedly find it much more convenient to hop on the rail than take your car. However, that shoes one weakness: Consider if you lived a mile from the station down an arterial.
That is where streetcars and circulator shuttles come in handy. You may not hop on a stinky noisy bus, but you may be willing to hop on a streetcar, wait out maybe four stops, and then hop on the express LRT to cumberland. Or you may hop on a small shuttle bus from your condo a half mile from the station. Or you maybe on a nice day you'd ride your bike and lock it at the station, or roller-blade and throw the blades in a carrying case when you get to the train.
At the very least I would like to see Marta extended it's rail network and maybe add a VIP cart to the train, pay an extra dollar or two and get some clean padded seats and some leg room etc.
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