Fresh Loaf

Straphangers and transit wonks can breathe easy, as Gov. Sonny Perdue today finalized a $25 million agreement between the Atlanta Regional Commission and MARTA that will help the transit agency avoid drastic service cuts.

Perdue’s action today was largely just red tape. As governor, Perdue must approve all projects paid for by federal stimulus dollars. The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority approved the ARC and MARTA’s agreement on Wednesday. Perdue had hinted he would do the same.

In exchange for funding to keep its trains and buses running, MARTA will spend $25 million on transit-related projects. ARC stepped up to help the cash-strapped transit agency after the Georgia General Assembly failed to pass a bill that would have allowed MARTA more control of its funding.

Perdue today also approved $121 million worth of other stimulus projects, including streetscape improvements in downtown Atlanta, park improvements in DeKalb County, and oodles of roads.

Screenshots of those are after the jump.

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The Clean Air Campaign, an Atlanta-based booster of alternate commuting, has posted a video that shows how foolish the estimated 60 percent of metro Atlantans who drive to work by themselves actually look — minus the steel, LCD screens playing “The View,” and dusty coffee tumblers that have surely caked your cloth interior with Maxwell House juice.

The animation then shows the effect that shared commutes, teleworking and riding transit could have on road capacity. Big difference.

To view the campaign’s animation, click the screenshot to the right.

For more information about how to connect with rideshare buds, transit options, teleworking tools and other ways you can join the more than 350,000 metro Atlantans who don’t drive to work by themselves, visit the Clean Air Campaign’s “Improve Your Commute” page. The campaign also offers incentives to motorists who give alternate commuting a shot.

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In a packed meeting at its downtown headquarters, the Atlanta Regional Commission threw cash-strapped MARTA a life preserver today, approving a reallocation of $25 million in federal stimulus dollars to help the transit agency avoid drastic service reductions.

Officials stressed the one-time funding shuffle wasn’t a bailout. Under the terms of the agreement, MARTA will shift money from its capital fund to pay for MARTA-related road projects that will benefit the region.

Today’s one-time move by the ARC proved necessary after the Georgia General Assembly failed to pass legislation earlier this year that would allow MARTA more control over its funding. MARTA officials said the transit agency risked cutting a full day of service should new funding not be secured.

The deal wasn’t met with enthusiasm from everyone.

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Atlanta Beltline Inc. President and CEO Terri Montague told CL Tuesday that no cloakroom antics were behind her announcement that she’ll leave the ambitious public-works project on September 1. Simply put, she says: Now’s a good time for her to find another challenge and ensure the $2.8 billion project doesn’t lose momentum.

“This is about a transition in leadership,” Montague said at last night’s Beltline Quarterly Briefing at the Atlanta Public Schools auditorium. “Now is better than later to think about how that looks like, who that person is, and what’s best for the next stage of [the project's development]…In the grand scheme of things, now is a good time to make that change.”

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Atlanta Beltline Inc. President and CEO Terri Montague says she’ll depart the agency tasked with designing the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit on Sept. 1.

“It has been my privilege to serve the City and the BeltLine team in this capacity and to help the project achieve its early milestones and momentum over these nearly three years,” Montague said in a press release. “BeltLine implementation has come a very long way in a very short time—thanks in part to the project’s many partners and supporters.”

Montague joined the Beltline in July 2006. ABI says she’ll assist the organization in a consulting capacity until the end of the year to help with her successor’s transition.

More to come. The full press release is after the jump.

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The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports the Beltline will receive $1 million as part of a $1.8 million grant package from the U.S. government to clean up brownfields.

The grants, which include $400,000 from the federal government’s stimulus program and $1.4 million from the EPA brownfields general program funding, will help revitalize former industrial and commercial sites, EPA said. Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.

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A lot of it depends on what you want to see.

As part of its environmental study, Beltline officials are soliciting public input as to how the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit should take shape. A full list of meeting dates and locations is available in this post.

Officials last week released 14 short videos that show examples of the options under consideration for the project’s parks, trails and transit components, among other thing. They’re all in the player embedded below. To view the different videos, press play and move your mouse icon to the left or right along the bottom of the screen.

UPDATE: After the jump, the Beltline “fly-through” video.

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Jim Walls at Atlanta Unfiltered reports:

Atlanta school officials took action Monday to keep some or all of an $18 million pot collected for the city’s BeltLine project.

The Board of Education voted to change the effective date of its decision to allow school tax money to be spent on the BeltLine. The board first OK’d the funding in 2005. Under a complicated resolution that you really don’t want to read, the board said its decision will take effect this year instead.

In the meantime, the board plans to renegotiate the split for the $18 million that’s already in the bank.

School officials emphasized they still back the BeltLine. “We voted to support the beltline in December of 2005, and that support level is still there,” board Chair LaChandra Butler Burks said.

APS staff sent CL a copy of Monday’s resolution. Take a look at it here.

And why should any of this matter? Walls sums it up very nicely.

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Transit supporters take note: grassroots coalition Save MARTA is asking you to hop on the bus or train next Friday to raise awareness about the people mover’s woes.

From the event’s Facebook page:

In light of impending MARTA service cuts due to state level legislative action and inaction, Metro Atlantans are coming together to support the transit system by celebrating Ride MARTA Day on Friday, April 17. On Ride MARTA Day, participants will all ride MARTA at least once, per their usual commute or replacing their usual mode of transportation. Participants will ride at the time of their choosing. In other words, all you need to do is ride the bus or train on Friday, April 17.

The purpose of Ride MARTA Day is to bring all concerned Metro Atlantans into a community building activity that will boost ridership, expose new riders to useful routes, express solidarity with MARTA workers and regular commuters, and demonstrate that, as the backbone of our transportation system, MARTA must be fairly funded.

Atlanta City Councilmember Kwanza Hall is scheduled to participate. As of this writing, there are 118 confirmed guests for the event. UPDATE: The event also has an official site. Check it out here.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Beltline officials on Monday will provide residents of Southeast Atlanta a chance to offer their opinion on how they want to move around the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit. Officials will also show them how they’ll move.

The meeting, the first of five Environmental Impact Study workshops, will be held at Trees Atlanta at 6:30 p.m. It will reportedly include a Google Earth animation that will take people on a virtual tour of the project’s path. Beltline officials will take citizen input on the how the trail and transit paths should be aligned, where station stops should be located, and what type of transportation — light-rail, streetcar, etc. — they think should be used.

The meeting is scheduled to end at 8:30 p.m. Click here for directions to Trees Atlanta. A list of the remaining workshops follows after the jump. To download a flyer that includes all the workshop dates and locations, click here. (Warning: PDF)

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The following recent headlines were selected by me to make you angry.

Denver Post: Pace to pick up on West light-rail line

ProgressiveRailroading.com: WMATA outlines plans for $202 million in stimulus funds

San Francisco Business Times: California bullet train gets $29M loan

Daily Journal of Commerce: MAX light rail boosted by bond sale

Arizona Republic: New light-rail plans call for more track and expansion into Mesa

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio passenger rail chugs ahead

Even during the nation’s current economic disaster, other metro areas are growing and improving their mass transit networks.

Meanwhile Atlanta’s economy is held hostage by the city-hatin’, parochial idiots who run the state government.

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1. AJC plans to cut staff by 30 percent (As we later reported, nearly 90 editorial staffers will be bought out or laid off. That sucks.)

2. Atlanta to New Orleans rail line in danger … because of Alabama? (At least this story has a happy ending.)

3. Atlanta City Council OKs Decatur Belt deal— with a catch (Marietta Street residents protect their neighborhood from destruction, and the newest Beltline plan is a win-win)

4. Examining the Sweet 16: Nova v. Duke is can’t miss basketball (Needless to say, we rooted for the Tar Heels.)

5. Georgia slips in ’safest state’ rankings to no. 39 (The Peach State dropped seven spots, to be exact — the largest plummet in the country. Oops.)

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Ryan Gravel

The Beltline Partnership, the fundraising and public awareness arm of the $2.8 billion project that imagines Atlanta circled by parks, trails and transit, has new board directors.

Most prominent among those, especially for people who keep their eyes on smart growth and transit projects in the city, is Ryan Gravel. An urban designer who envisioned the Beltline as a graduate student at Georgia Tech, Gravel now works at local architecture firm Perkins + Will. He’s become more engaged with the Beltline since the Georgia Department of Transportation and Amtrak unexpectedly announced they want to use tracks near Piedmont Park for a commuter-rail project, putting the project in jeopardy.

Ray Weeks, the partnership’s founding chairman, is stepping down now that his term on the board has ended. He will continue to serve as one of the organization’s chief fundraisers. Weeks is succeeded by AGL Resources CEO John Somerhalder.

The partnership’s roster includes some of the city’s biggest business names. Since its founding, the organization has been vital in securing private funds to help pay for some of the public-works project’s costs.

Full release, with details of who’s joined the board, after the jump.

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Citizens for Progressive Transit, a grassroots advocacy group, is holding its annual lobbying day at the state Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 17.

Members and non-members who want to speak with Georgia lawmakers about the need for more transit, cleaner air and less auto-dependent options are urged to meet with the group at the Central Presbyterian Church across the street from the Capitol on Tuesday morning. There, you’ll receive a briefing and then make your way to the Gold Dome to advocate the cause.

Full details are after the jump.

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RAIL RALLY Beltline supporters say Amtrak, GDOT's plans jeopardize Beltline

When it comes to the future of public transit in Atlanta, there’s good news and there’s bad news.

The good news: After decades of bowing at the throne of roadbuilders, the Georgia Department of Transportation says it’s finally taking off the kneepads and getting serious about train service that would connect Atlanta to other cities in the Southeast.

The bad news: Thanks to an unexpected tiff between GDOT and city of Atlanta officials, the Beltline — the transformative 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit that would one day circle the city — might be in jeopardy. That’s because the train service that GDOT is suddenly embracing would have to run on or near the proposed Beltline tracks. What’s more, Piedmont Park, the city’s most iconic greenspace, might have to be severed by a heavy-rail route in order to accommodate GDOT’s vision.

Last week, CL first reported that GDOT — working in tandem with Amtrak — threw a wrench in Beltline officials’ plans for light-rail, trails and additional green space near Piedmont Park. Just as Norfolk Southern, the current owner of the tracks in question, was about to surrender them to the city, GDOT and Amtrak stepped in and halted the proceedings. Those two agencies now say the tracks in dispute are vital to their own vision for commuter rail.

“Simply put, because of GDOT’s boorish behavior and AMTRAK’s willingness to play along, the future of the city of Atlanta is at stake,” Mayor Shirley Franklin wrote in an urgent letter to U.S. Congressman John Lewis to seek his assistance.

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U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, has requested AMTRAK President Joseph Boardman work with city and regional planners, officials and residents to resolve the “Decatur Belt” dispute between the federal agency, the Georgia Department of Transportation and Beltline officials.

Lewis says AMTRAK’s actions “have the potential to unnecessarily disrupt one of the most important public benefit projects that the City of Atlanta has undertaken in recent memory.” He adds that “these combined actions are not the model of a productive and healthy local, State and federal partnership with the shared goal of revitalizing transportation services in Metro Atlanta.”

Download a PDF of the letter here.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Transit Implementation Board Chairman Eldrin Bell was not about to let that agency’s inaugural meeting today turn into a boxing match between the City of Atlanta and the Georgia Department of Transportation.

Much to the disappointment — or relief? — of those involved, Bell didn’t allow the two sides to argue whether light-rail or heavy-rail should run along several miles of unused railroad tracks near Piedmont Park. GDOT and AMTRAK argue that the tracks are the only viable options if transit advocates want to see commuter rail and a long-planned downtown terminal. Officials for the Beltline, the planned 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit, say there are alternatives and that commuter rail drastically alters the design that planners, neighborhoods and developers have crafted for the area.

Bell said he’s hesitant to discuss the Beltline’s future unless all the stakeholders were in the room.

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From the Beltline Network:

RALLY TO SAVE THE BELTLINE

LET’S SHOW HOW MUCH THE PEOPLE SUPPORT ATLANTA’S LIGHT RAIL, TRAIL, PARK, ARBORETUM, AFFORDABLE HOUSING AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE!
THIS SATURDAY, January 31, 2009, 2:00PM
MEET ALONG THE BELTLINE TRACKS AT THE INTERSECTION OF 10TH AND MONROE IN MIDTOWN

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…but it would be problematic for them to do so on the Beltline property in Northeast Atlanta that’s become a bone of contention for the city, the Georgia Department of Transportation and AMTRAK.

In 2005, Beltline visionary Ryan Gravel and Friends of the Beltline Inc. issued a study that examined how the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit may be affected by the various rail lines circling Atlanta. (Download the study PDF here.)

In regards to the “Decatur Belt,” the 3.5-mile segment that runs from DeKalb Avenue to Ansley Mall, the study says:

use of this line for the commuter rail network is problematic for the following reasons:

• The original alignment of the Decatur Street Belt with the main line into downtown Atlanta was broken by the reconfiguration of Hulsey Yard and the construction of the elevated East MARTA line and King Memorial Station.
• Use of the Decatur Street Belt puts Amtrak trains through residential areas and Piedmont Park, crossing surface streets at Monroe Drive, Irwin Street and DeKalb Avenue.
• The Decatur Street Belt is too narrow south of Freedom Parkway for the Belt Line and Amtrak to share right-of-way with separate tracks.
• Shared use of the tracks themselves in this corridor would be difficult due to topographic and physical constraints.
• Any shared arrangement would make the Belt Line much less desirable by eliminating greenspace and permeability and by increasing safety concerns, particularly for pedestrians and cyclists.

The group proposed several recommendations, including tinkering with the Brookwood station where AMTRAK currently stops. One of the biggest challenges the Beltline will face is actually connecting the rail segments that will create its spine and shape.

If you’re a transit lover and want to know more about the current dispute, as well as the project’s other connectivity challenges, this study is well worth a read.

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Man, the Beltline can be pretty confusing, huh? So can writing about transit agency disputes.

To put it plainly: The vision of a 22-mile loop of transit, parks and trails is now in jeopardy after the state Department of Transportation and AMTRAK unexpectedly announced they had their own heavy-rail plans for the project’s northeast section along Piedmont Park.

On Wednesday, members of the Beltline Network, a citizen group that supports the project, will meet for a special-called meeting to discuss how to keep the $2.8 billion “Emerald Necklace” — the largest public-works project of its kind in the country — on track.

Liz Coyle, chair of the Beltline Network, writes in an “urgent” e-mail sent yesterday to members (emphasis added for the more civic-minded Fresh Loaf readers who want to get involved):

I am calling a special meeting of the BeltLine Network on this Wednesday, January 28, at 4:30pm at Trees Atlanta, 225 Chester Avenue. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss and strategize a community response to a threat to BeltLine transit. I will provide more details as available at the meeting, but to summarize the situation and get right to the point, AMTRAK has begun condemnation proceedings on the NE Corridor of the BeltLine. This is in response to Norfolk Southern Railroad (NSR), Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. (ABI) and Atlanta Development Authority (ADA) pursuing rail abandonment on the Northeast Corridor (aka the “Decatur Belt”) with the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB), a necessary step to advancing light rail transit in the BeltLine corridor. Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) and AMTRAK have filed Motions to Stay the abandonment proceedings.

More on Coyle’s e-mail and the issues — and questions — surrounding this dispute after the jump.

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HIT THE BRAKES Beltline faces another obstacle — from GDOT and AMTRAK

If there’s one thing we’ve learned about the Beltline, the 22-mile loop of parks, trails and transit proposed to circle Atlanta, it’s that surprises are to be expected. And some interesting developments are afoot with the $2.8-billion project.

If you recall, Atlanta Beltline Inc. — the nonprofit agency in charge of planning and implementing the project — finalized its purchase of a 66-acre piece of property in October owned by Gwinnett County developer Wayne Mason and his son Keith, an Atlanta attorney. The Mason property included  land and transit right-of-way. The $66 million purchase riled city watchdogs not only for the ultimate payout to the Masons — more than double what father and son originally paid for the land in 2004 — but also the deal ABI cut with a private partner group it needed to buy out if it wanted to use tax-exempt bonds to finalize the purchase before a Halloween deadline. That’s background, and for all intents and purposes, irrelevant for the moment.

Beltline leaders hoped to complete planning the area, implement transit, and sell off excess land to developers. They would then re-invest the windfall from those sales back into the overall project. But before it could do anything with the property, it first had to abandon the transit right-of-way. That humdrum process is conducted by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and largely involves just some time for public comment and a shuffling of papers. It was supposed to be a walk in the park.

Looks like that’s not turning out to be the case. An eleventh-hour move by the state Department of Transportation and AMTRAK has potentially thrown a wrench in the Beltline. And why those two odd entities decided to hold hands and insert themselves into the conversation — this late in the party — is making folks scratch their heads.

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Jeez, guys, didn’t you read that he was taking a train to Washington, D.C.?

The Georgia Public Interest Research Group has just released its analysis of the state Department of Transportation’s wishlist for President-elect Barack Obama’s proposed stimulus funds. And the group says the state agency’s list favors asphalt over rails.

The Georgia Department of Transportation’s wish list requests:

• Georgia would spend only 34.3 percent of funds on public transit/intercity rail projects.

• The state DOT has allocated 69 percent of the two billion dollar highway project funds to the maintenance needs of the state’s infrastructure. This is a higher portion than most other states but would still leave many bridges and roads in a state of disrepair while building new highways.

• GDOT also lists three bike/pedestrian projects in Fulton County: West End Rail Multi-use Trail ($2.2 million), Fourteenth Street ($7.6 million), and Downtown Atlanta Pedestrian ($6.7 million).

There are some worrisome aspects to these high-dollar and ambitious wishlists, too.

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Tired of swallowing Xanax every time you jump on a plane to visit the folks? You might get an alternative, my weary friend.

A new multi-state study says high-speed rail is feasible along I-85 from Charlotte, N.C. to Macon. Greenville, S.C. and Atlanta would be stops along the route.

From a press release about the study:

The Charlotte-Macon Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor study assesses the capacity and speed capabilities of the corridor and estimates possible ridership, revenue, operating and capital costs associated with extending high-speed passenger rail from Charlotte, N.C. to Macon, Ga., along the I-85 corridor. The report also addresses the feasibility of train speeds up to 150 miles per hour, including new track construction in locations that would increase speeds and avoid congested areas. The study was conducted by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Mass.

“This effort supports our shared belief that we must seriously consider — and plan for — transportation alternatives in these rapidly developing areas,” said Georgia Transportation Commissioner Gena Evans. “Given the growth our states continue to experience, we must explore every tool in our tool box in order to move the needle on transportation reform.”

…

High speed rail service, where appropriate, will provide business and leisure travelers with a competitive alternative to air and auto for trips between 100 and 500 miles.

Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia are working together with the business communities in each state to plan, develop and implement high speed rail in the Southeast. If implemented, the system would be developed incrementally, upgrading existing rail rights of way where possible.

What’s next? More studies, of course, including environmental assessments and modeling to gauge how viabile it would be to connect high-speed rail to other cities such as Washington, D.C. and Boston. Nowhere in the release does it mention how much the project would cost, which, in the end, is what determines whether it gets off the drawing board and into reality.

The complete study is also available online for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Full press release is after the jump.
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A coalition of officials from the state and metro region’s transportation planning agencies have vouched to now take the next step in addressing the issue — moving past pretty blueprints and visions and focusing on the more complex process of actually finding ways to build the mobility solutions.

The Transit Planning Board yesterday, in its final meeting under that banner, unanimously approved a “new year’s resolution” to create the Transit Implementation Board, or TIB. That agency, which will supplant the board, will examine how the region can implement Concept 3 (PDF) — a gridlock-relieving vision of light-rail, heavy-rail and bus routes that would spider throughout metro Atlanta.

The Atlanta Regional Commission, the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority and MARTA — members of the board — have all passed resolutions in support of Concept 3.

From a press release from the group:

“Two years ago, our region needed to focus on developing a vision for transit that we could all support,” stated TPB and Clayton County Chairman Eldrin Bell. “Today, we’re saying our focus needs to be on implementation. This year has filled me with optimism regarding what our region can accomplish when we work together Now, however, the hard part begins.”

The TIB’s first meeting is scheduled for Jan. 29.

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A transit plan designed to make mobility in metro Atlanta more than just cars, cars and cars inched forward today.

The Atlanta Regional Commission this afternoon approved Concept 3, a regional transit plan that advocates are calling “the most far-reaching transit expansion plan in decades.” Designed by the Transit Planning Board, Concept 3 includes heavy rail, express buses, light rail and streetcars. Included in the design are the Beltline and portions of the Brain Train.

“If we actually build the projects in Concept 3, it will transform metro Atlanta in the 21st century just as assuredly as the railroads did in the 19th Century and the Airport and highways did in the 20th Century,” Lee Biola, president of Citizens for Progressive Transit, said in a press release.

To be clear, the commission’s seal of approval doesn’t mean we’ll be riding light-rail to Roswell in a year, it just makes it eligible to be added to a future regional transportation plan, or RTP — a necessary step if the plan hopes to compete for sorely-needed federal funding. A commission spokeswoman says transportation projects in the RTP fall under one of two designations  — one for plans whose funding has been identified, and another for those the commission “aspires” to see come to fruition. Concept 3 would be considered the latter, she says.

A little wonkish, yes, but stick with me here. As I reported last week, there’s a movement underway — yet again — to find more funding for transportation projects. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has pledged — scout’s honor — to re-introduce a regional sales tax to pay for transportation fixes. (It failed by three votes in the lieutenant governor’s chamber last session.) Dick Anderson, executive director of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority, says he’s been examining a number of new funding mechanisms, including the oh-so controversial public-private partnership.

So while today’s news might not be like breaking ground to lay rails, it’s a start.

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