more marta atlanta program
Additional questions and comments may be sent to townhall@itsmarta.com. MARTA officials said the agency is advancing a program estimated to cost $2.7 billion over 40 years. @media screen and (min-width:1200px) { presentation, printed handout, project boards, and more information about the The best thing the politicians on council can do for their constituents in the city of Atlanta is to get out of the way and let MARTA deliver the projects, the statement said. Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms says a bullet hit family home, 24-year-old dies in crash on I-75 in Atlanta, House fire in Johns Creek displaces family, Can police intentionally shoot hostages? Current plans call for two tiers of projects. ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Atlanta City Council has called for the first-ever audit of the "More MARTA" program. Thats a lot of where the pushback is coming from, said Sumlin. } MARTA has disputed that assertion. To advocate and provide safe, multi-modal transit services that advance prosperity, connectivity and equity for a more livable region. The Atlanta City Council is poised to ask MARTA to account for money it has spent, and plans to spend, from the 0.5 percent More MARTA Atlanta sales tax city voters approved in 2016. The City of Atlanta and MARTA propose separating the projects into two tiers. In 2019, the MARTA Board of Directors approved More MARTA Atlanta, a slate of 17 projects at a projected cost of $2.7 billion that would add new light rail lines, bus rapid transit and arterial rapid transit and make station improvements. The audit would be conducted on the More MARTA program- the roughly $2.7 billion that's to be raised from a half-penny sales tax increase Atlanta voters approved in 2016 for system expansions . Campbellton Road rapid transit was adopted as part of the More MARTA Atlanta Program in 2018. To advocate and provide safe, multi-modal transit services that advance prosperity, connectivity and equity for a more livable region. All Rights Reserved. Almost three out of every four Atlanta voters agreed to a half-penny sales tax in 2016 to generate $2.7 billion over 40 years for an ambitious public transit expansion plan, known as More MARTA. by Collin Kelley April 13, 2023. The More MARTA Atlanta program will help reach some of our most vulnerable residents, providing them access to opportunity and jobs, while enhancing our public transportation system in a way that will have a positive impact on both economic development and quality of life, said Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Of the 17 projects approved, MARTA is set to break ground this summer on the first project, the Summerhill bus rapid transitline along Hank Aaron Drive and Capitol Avenue in Downtown. All the update sessions will begin at 6 p.m. More MARTA Atlanta -Background Program approved by voters in 2016 by an overwhelming majority of 71%. Meet the dynamic staff working to change transit in American cities. and receive questions and comments about the proposed resequencing. Other improvements include: MARTA's Station . Atlanta transit riders arent thrilled with scaled-down More MARTA projects | Fulton Watch, City stepping up code enforcement actions against problem landlords through new Safe and Secure Housing plan, No Labels Georgia chapter says its not interested in fielding a third party presidential candidate, Atlanta transit riders arent thrilled with scaled-down More MARTA projects, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Much of this work isnt visible to the public, but were making significant progress.. A few years ago, MARTA and Atlanta officials adopted a list of projects to roll out under the More MARTA Atlanta program, partially funded by a half-penny sales tax approved by voters. Things have definitely improved with MARTA. Four years after the More MARTA referendum, what improvements are now tangible for Atlanta transit riders, and what can riders expect to see in the next four? Lookmost people understand that inflation means we cant do everything at once. If all goes according to schedule, the first major capital investment will be unveiled in 2023 the Metropolitan Parkway Arterial Rapid Transit, a BRT-lite project which will feature buses that run frequently, with transit signal priority, queue jumps, and enhanced bus stops. HOLMES STATION MASTER PLAN, MARTA IS HIRING: BUS OPERATORS AND JOURNEYMAN BUS TECHNICIANS NEEDED, MARTA TO HOLD VETERANS CAREER FAIR MARCH 9, MARTA POLICE IS HIRING! put the agency in good financial shape until at least 2024, and that the More MARTA program can proceed as planned. Sometimes its funding issues. Kotak said the project list ultimately came down to what MARTA and the community thought was most feasible in terms of increasing ridership, spending the money well, pulling down federal funds, and a lot of equity and environmental concerns.. MARTA intends the redesign to be budget neutral, meaning it doesnt plan to add additional bus service as part of the initiative. Kotak thinks that transit advocacy in Atlanta hasnt always been well coordinated, and getting different factions on the same page will be key to advancing major improvements in the coming years. Questions and comments? None of these buses have signal priority or anything else that would actually enhance their mobility., Height says that historically, transit boosters in Atlanta have been too fixated on a hierarchy of transit modes. } The final list of projects approved in 2018 includes 36 miles of enhanced bus routes, and 29 miles of light rail. The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) celebrated improvements at College Park rail station with a ribbon-cutting on the station's East Plaza on April 26. Instead, that exercise is being used as an excuse to further delay. There will be in-person updates on Tuesday, April 18, at Sylvan Middle School and Thursday, April 20, at All Saints Episcopal Church. $570 million for the Atlanta BeltLine corridor; including all high capacity transit modes, the More MARTA Atlanta program builds out 61% of the . Farokhi and the Atlanta City Council, along with Mayor Andre Dickens, approved a resolution in March demanding increased financial transparency for More MARTA, including an audit. The More MARTA program is funded by a half-penny sales tax approved by Atlanta voters in 2016 specifically to build new rail, streetcar extensions, new bus lines and new stations. All that is missing is the political will.. Some of the funding is coming from a half-cent sales tax that Atlanta voters approved in 2016. If were going to continue to make these strides with the $2.7 billion that were putting into More MARTA, then we have to make the bus a priority, because the bus is most likely going to be one of the connections that riders are going to make within metro Atlanta. Kotak agrees with this assessment. . color: #000; Atlanta is one of the fastest growing urban regions in the country, projected to gain 2.5 million residents by 2040. Over the next 40 years, the spending plan will inject $2.7 billion with a B into the transit agency for a range of new light rail and bus projects, as well as improvements to existing stations, that is designed to reduce travel times, reach underserved areas, and bring the Atlanta BeltLine, Emory University and the Atlanta University Center into the transit network. After the More MARTA vote, MARTA spent two years conducting public engagement, technical analysis, and systemwide planning to determine how to spend the new revenue. Collin Kelley has been the editor of Atlanta Intown for two decades and has been a journalist and freelance writer for 35 years. In the fall of 2022 at the request of the Atlanta City Council, MARTA and City leadership began discussing a possible reorganization of the program based on available funding. The council on March 20 approved a resolution requesting MARTA submit to its request for a financial audit of the More MARTA program and provide an answer by March 29. .featured-events__slide-heading { Height says theres wide variation in bus stop quality. In December 2000, the newest section of MARTAs North Line opened and there hasnt been anything significant since. Are these public dollars being spent as the public intended them to be spent, questioned Atlanta City Councilmember Amir Farokhi. More MARTA is a transit improvement partnership between MARTA and the City of Atlanta that is designing and building transit projects to address the current and future transportation needs of Atlantans by increasing accessibility, mobility, and connectivity. Placing this audit in the citys hands guarantees that we can find an independent third party to review the numbers. This year, he expanded the program to four more cities including Atlanta. This effort will be key in creating a more comfortable rider experience, says Height. In 2016, they voted by a nearly 3-1 margin to approve More MARTA, a half-cent sales tax within the city of Atlanta that currently generates about $75 million each year for transit. The list was narrowed from 70 proposed projects to 17 that were adopted by the MARTA Board in 2018. The citys Finance Department would conduct the audit. Theres lots of different factors that impact the list, right? said Rocha. This is yet another stall tactic from a collective group that has been wringing their hands and conflating the More MARTA program with the Citys Renew Atlanta TSPLOST program, the agency said. } Kotak emphasizes the need for robust community engagement surrounding the redesign effort. font-size: 95px; The sales tax is expected to generate $2.7 billion over 40 years; more money for the More MARTA program is coming from public and private dollars. Since 2020, MARTA has been advancing the projects in accordance with the prioritization in the sequencing plan. The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority's (MARTA) Board of Directors unanimously approved the "More MARTA" Atlanta program last week. prioritize some of the capital projects approved by voters seven years ago. .featured-events__slide-heading { So it definitely is a huge inequality with the transit experience, no matter what part of the metro youre in., Kotak agrees that bus stop and sidewalk improvements need to be immediate priorities in the region. Sign up for our newsletter designed specifically for you! 2023 Hyperlocal News and Information for Metro Atlanta. Copyright 2023 WANF. Given the resources at hand thanks to More MARTA, the slow pace of capital expansion projects, and the imperative to rebuild confidence in the transit system after the pandemic, increasing the budget for bus service in tandem with the network redesign looks like the surest path to give riders significant improvements while the 2016 referendum is still fresh in voters minds. We work to change the way transit is governed, planned, and operated across the country. The south bus loop has reopened at Edgewood-Candler Park Station. I would say that things that we were asking for were received in a combative kind of way, argumentative almost, said Overstreet, when asked to characterize the councils relationship with MARTA. The partnership with the Atlanta BeltLine is central to the expansion program and is reflected in the early sequencing of projects that provide BeltLine connectivity in the southeast (Summerhill BRT), to the southwest (Campbellton Road LRT) and the Eastside Trail (Streetcar East Extension and North Avenue Phase 1 BRT). This project is in accordance with legislation 17-R-4269, which authorized the City of Atlanta to enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement with MARTA to set forth roles and responsibilities for the planning, design, construction, and operations of the expansion and enhancements of the rapid transit system, and to designate a Program . This way we get the most objective assessment of the way More MARTA is going.. Every step of the program has been taken in concert with the City of Atlanta, the agency said. New York City Transits service levels have remained remarkably strong throughout the pandemic. Capitol Avenue (Summerhill) BRT: a bus rapid transit line linking commercial, government and education centers and the Atlanta BeltLines Southside Trail. It will include 14 stops with buses. Major rail expansions are a decade or more away. This . This extension also will link Atlanta University Center and the bustling Krog Street area. The program was first approved in 2016, when 71% of Atlanta voters cast their ballots in support of an additional half-penny sales tax to support expansion and improvements in the City. Click here to watch a recording of the event This is a challenging moment for the. MARTA and the City then executed a robust program of community engagement to establish guiding principles and the project list. MARTAs statement also said such an audit will delay all of its More MARTA projects. That spat between the council and MARTA management didnt come up during Thursdays meeting. MARTA and the City of Atlanta will host three public updates to share information and take questions and comments about the More MARTA Atlanta Program. We are in conversation right now and were still in the nascent stages of forming a more cohesive message, but were on the right pathway to that.. townhall@itsmarta.com. The More MARTA Atlanta program is aligned with the Atlanta Transportation Plan and the City's efforts to build upon a layered, integrated, regional transportation network. Related. margin-bottom: 5px; MARTA 2040, More MARTA Atlanta and Connect Clayton. MARTA Heroes are working every day to keep Atlanta moving safely. Weve got external factors, such as increased costs, she said. All rights reserved. We will have more and better transit options to get to job centers, colleges and universities, hospitals, parks and neighborhoods across Atlanta. This expansion program marks a major shift in MARTAs approach to project delivery, with a commitment to seeking public-private partnerships that will generate new sources of revenue and allow for faster completion of projects. hosted three public updates April 18-20 to share information with the public Faroki also questions MARTAs wisdom in project selection. Terms of Service apply. h3 { The update sessions come on the heels of the Atlanta City Council calling for an audit of the More MARTA program, which is funded by a half-penny sales tax . Despite the massive declines in fare revenue wrought by the pandemic, MARTA CEO Jeffrey Parker told Atlanta Magazine in February that federal transit relief funding has put the agency in good financial shape until at least 2024, and that the More MARTA program can proceed as planned. , Better local bus service will do far more for the Atlanta community than BeltLine Rail could., has committed to establishing a network of bus-only lanes and installing upgrades like transit signal priority on city streets by 2022. .featured { } (Photo by Kelly Jordan.) None of these buses have their own lane. We do a lot to engage the public. Crew operator availability remains the agencys biggest challenge, as well as adjusting weekend maintenance schedules in order to run service that matches strong weekend demand. Tier II projects will be initiated at a later date as additional funding from the tax is available. There may be some truth to that, but its a lot of word soup. The program of projects is funded by an additional half . Copyright 2023 WANF. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Last chance to weigh in on Atlantas zoning code update, Controversial plan to house homeless in Reynoldstown could get downsized. We are adding approximately 200 new shelters and amenities at our bus stops each year. South Atlanta received a sizable chunk of the More MARTA funds, including $311 million for a light rail line along Campbellton Road, linking Oakland City Station to Greenbriar Mall. Blue/Green lines operate on special 20-minute schedules. Federal funding for transit projects like the BeltLine, Clifton Corridor, and Campbellton Road have the opportunity to successfully compete for federal funds from the Federal Transit Administration, creating the potential to bring some of our federal tax dollars back to Atlanta. below for recordings of the April 19 and 20 meetings, as well as links to the Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to keep up with all things Housing and Democracy related in metro Atlanta. But critics argue expansion efforts have fallen short. font-size: 25px; Instead, Atlantans wanted to know: What new transit is coming and when? All rights reserved. Granted, no one is actively lobbying against the Clifton Corridor projectit would connect MARTA users with jobs to the eastbut when Atlanta voters okayed the More MARTA sales tax in a 2016 . MARTA, which took over the streetcar from Atlanta in 2018, says more people will ride if the line goes more places. MARTA has a second tier of projects on its long term listvery long term. As far as the More MARTA plan goes, there hasnt really been much that we can actually see. Although MARTA boosted bus service frequency after the referendum in 2017, many of the routes have since been cut as a result of the pandemic. The mood was meh at All Saints Episcopal Church in Midtown on Thursday eveningone of three public meetings that the Atlanta transit agency convened in April to discuss More MARTAs revised project list. Your email address will not be published. More MARTA Atlanta is the city of Atlanta's largest transit investment in four decades. But he emphasizes that the agency also needs to focus on improving local bus service. Stay tuned to this page and email us at What's Next ATL > 7 Things to Know about the More MARTA Plan. Thus far, 92 new shelters have been installed, 100 are in the permitting and design phase, and eight are under construction. Here are seven notable nuggets about More MARTA Atlanta: As the name suggests, all the projects are within the city of Atlanta, made possible by a half-penny sales tax approved by voters in 2016. In determining the sequence of the projects, MARTA considered market conditions, constructability and current funding commitments. On Tuesday, MARTA accused the city council of playing politics by demanding a full performance review of decisions made by previous MARTA and City of Atlanta leaders. The audit would also review federal funds received and spent by More MARTA to date, including federal COVID-19 relief funds. 2440 Piedmont Road, Atlanta. The board had to make several difficult choices about which projects to add to the final program roster. BUS OPERATIONS JOB FAIR MARCH 2. See their stories here. presentation, printed handout, project boards, and more information about the But Sumlin says the feedback hes heard from his community is that many projects that survived MARTAs resequencing are intended for tourists and transplants. Shipman said he didnt believe any projects would need to be delayed as the City is financing and overseeing the audit. Hes also an award-winning poet and novelist. Our library is full of useful, concise videos for advocates, agency staff, and anyone who wants to understand transit better. Learn more, 229 Peachtree STNE, STE 100 The council unanimously requested an audit of the More MARTA Atlanta transit expansion program. Overstreet said the relationship between the Council and MARTA is contentious.. 36 North Decatur Road / Virginia Highland. More MARTA is a program set to span 40 years and a variety of projects to expand the public transportation system in Atlanta. The project is only 2.5 miles in length, but will provide a proof of concept for the rest of the BRT projects planned around the city. If we are going to take the time and resources necessary to do this, then lets do it right, Overstreet said. City Council members have raised questions for months about transparency from MARTA on the spending of More MARTA money and how it prioritizes projects.