Most of DOT board didn’t know about Beltline opposition
January 28, 2009 at 3:12 pm by Thomas Wheatley in NewsYesterday, the Georgia Department of Transportation said its out-of-the-blue opposition to allowing light-rail along the Beltline near Piedmont Park — a move it made with the help of AMTRAK — didn’t necessarily mean the end of the city’s 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit. A GDOT spokesman said both intercity rail and light-rail could run side-by-side along the 3.5-mile rail line. There would have to be modifications, of course. But it’s do-able, he said.
Beltline officials, however, say that’s virtually impossible. Federal regulations, safety concerns and neighborhood opposition would most likely prevent that possibility, Atlanta Beltline Inc. CEO Terri Montague told an Atlanta City Council committee yesterday.
Add to the fact that residents and developers have invested time, money and energy into a vision of that portion of the $2.8-billion project that includes lower-speed people movers and lush parks with bike trails, and you can see why a train roaring behind the neighborhood isn’t exactly what stakeholders had in mind. Atlanta Councilmember Kwanza Hall, whose district has seen much of that investment — e.g. City Hall East’s proposed mixed-use revival and the recently announced Historic Old Fourth Ward Park near the Masquerade — estimates the city and others have spent as much as $250 million on that portion of the Beltline. Stakeholders feel their investment is in jeopardy and that the loss of this key part of the project could send financial and logistical ripples throughout the Beltline, impacting the possibility of transit and smart-growth development in Atlanta.
GDOT and AMTRAK say they’re protecting future options for commuter rail. Their trains couldn’t run alongside freight traffic on tracks to the west of Atlanta, they argue, because the routes don’t make logistical sense. Nevermind that the rails in dispute run smack into DeKalb Avenue. Quite a roadblock! (There’s a study about this that I’ll post in a few minutes.)
So how was the decision to halt the Beltline in Northeast Atlanta made? According to David Doss, a GDOT boardmember from Rome, he and his fellow officials weren’t aware of the agency’s move until the news media came calling yesterday. And he even sits on a special committee that specifically focuses on transit.
He writes in an email to CL:
Most of the members of the State Transportation Board that I have spoken with were unaware, as I was, that there was an issue regarding GDOT and the Atlanta Beltline project until we were approached by the news media yesterday. I recognize the importance of this project for the City of Atlanta as well as the amount of energy and resources that have been expended by both the public and private sectors. Although I do not know the specific points of contention between all of the parties, I am convinced that Commissioner Evans and the GDOT staff will make every possible effort to resolve this impasse and allow this project to move forward. I would be very surprised if this matter isn’t resolved sooner rather than later.
Today, transit officials and wonks will be watching the U.S. Surface Transportation Board’s “filings” website. GDOT and AMTRAK have until the end of today to state their next course of action. (Filings that deal with the rails in dispute are under the name “AB_290_210_X.”) The Beltline Network will meet today at 4:30 p.m. at Trees Atlanta’s office in Cabbagetown to rally supporters of the project and strategize. Tomorrow, officials from every transit agency imaginable will gather for the first meeting of the Transit Implementation Board — the second incarnation of the Transit Planning Board which focuses on actually making rails in the region a reality. That meeting starts at noon and will be held at the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority’s downtown headquarters. It should be the proverbial hoot.
Yet questions remain, some of which GDOT was unable to answer yesterday in a phone conversation. If the state agency has been considering commuter rail for that Beltline property since the mid-1990s, why is the state agency only now raising a flag about it? Why didn’t GDOT voice its concern during the year-long planning phase for Concept3, one of the region’s most recent transit plans? Why then did GDOT gives its blessing to Concept3 UPDATE: I’ve been informed that GDOT did not in fact approve Concept3. Why did the agency want this 3.5-mile piece of transit right-of-way so badly that, as a GDOT spokesman told me yesterday, it actively sought AMTRAK’s assistance and cooperation to halt the abandonment process?
What changed? And if GDOT still does have some claim to the Beltline property in question, why wasn’t this sorted out by the city beforehand? The more I report on these shenanigans, the more I think about the bigger picture: Does any of this kerfuffle add ammunition to Gov. Sonny Perdue’s argument for reforming the alphabet soup of state transportation agencies?
January 28th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Atlanta Beltline Inc. CEO Terri Montague needs to do the research and find out how to MAKE the coexistence of high speed rail and the beltline possible, not just say its impossible.
does anyone know what the salary is for that position, btw?
January 28th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Heavy rail in that location is not inherently bad. The corridor was originally created for just that purpose, afterall. And, given that Amtrak currently graces Atlanta twice per day, I think the concerns about rail traffic may be a bit overblown.
Either way, both the beltline and commuter rail seem to be stuck in an endless planning hell, so it won’t affect Atlantans anytime soon.
January 28th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Neither of these projects will ever be built. They will, however, provide steady employment to a bunch of consultants who will fight over which fantasy project should take priority.
February 2nd, 2009 at 3:58 pm
“Atlanta Beltline Inc. CEO Terri Montague needs to do the research and find out how to MAKE the coexistence of high speed rail and the beltline possible, not just say its impossible.”
It is not impossible, but some of the topographic challenges that the BL face would only be exacerbated by having to share a right of way with a high speed train. Also, traversing the ROW would be infinitely more dangerous than that of light rail. Generally with heavy rail there will also probably be a wall that separates the two. This is a problem at specific Beltline intersections like 10th and Monroe where it crosses at grade. The issue that all of us should have with this, is if GDOT and Amtrak wanted this rail, why did it take them so long to come out and say it? Why wasn’t there conversations when the Beltline company was buying the land from the Mason’s over the last year or two? It is just bad bad communications by those companies. They waited until the last minute to throw a monkey wrench into all of this. Will the beltline project be built? Who knows, but I know for a fact those people in Inman Park, Midtown and all of those other neighborhoods will not allow any high speed rail within their neighborhood.