This is an article from Human Transit, the design firm that worked on the Next Gen Bus Network. Theres some cool information about certain decisions in the new network.
Last week I saw a post talking about MARTA’s very first draft proposal, it features both what would’ve been the initial system build-out, as well as the long range plan, the former being the only one I’ve seen until now. The map is featured in the Atlanta Region Comprehensive Plan: Rapid Transit of 1961, detailing the need for an expansive network of freeways, as well as rapid transit. The full system buildout utilizes nearly every freight corridor we have, featuring several branches, and a loop of connections between Downtown and the Clifton Corridor. This map is meant to interpret these lines and spurs using today’s color-based naming system. The design is inspired by MARTA (before the most recent update) and WMATA’s system maps. Stations with a black circle are ones that were never officially created, but fall along the routes of the long-range plan. I also used their present day names, and followed the naming convention of major roads or neighborhoods for new ones.
Alongside this map, theres also maps from throughout MARTA’s planning process including the 1961 initial build out and long range plan, the 1962 plan which moreso resembles our present system, and the final 1971 map which became the MARTA we know today.
Fun Facts:
- The initial buildout included trunk lines to Marietta, Forest Park, Avondale, and Norcross (with the spur to Emory)
- Our tunneled subway under Broad and Peachtree Street wasn’t shown until the 1962 map, originally, the Marietta line would’ve followed the freight corridor along Marietta Street, while the Norcross line would’ve followed what is today’s Eastside Beltline
- Original plans included the Blue Line going to Clarkston instead of continuing to Kensington and Indian Creek
- The West Line followed the freight corridor to Ben Hill (Cambellton) instead of later iterations taking it to Fulton Industrial
- The Constitution line is one of the more interesting ones for me. It’s never shown in any future maps, but the 1971 approved referendum showed a spur south of Garnett Station following the direction of Pryor Road to South Bend, terminating at Langford Parkway.
So after seeing all the BRT/Light Rail plans for MoreMARTA, as well as the old streetcar plans from 2015, I wanted to try and combine all of those planned routes INTO a network, with a few original segments. This map focuses strictly ITP to give Atlanta a more interconnected network. Don’t know if I’m gonna make this a bigger project on Illustrator or something (though I said that about the MARTA/Commuter map I made months ago and look what happened), but I do want to hear y’alls feedback. This kind of stuff is fun. I didn’t include all the stations but for this first draft I included transfer points and termini.
ROUTES
A - Ponce to Brookhaven
B - Ponce to Bankhead or Collier Heights
C - Campbellton to Bolton
D - Downtown Atlanta to Decatur or Panthersville (Clifton Corridor)
E - Bankhead or Collier Heights to Doraville
- The dotted lines represent alternative alignments or extensions. On the C, it’s a route following Chattahoochee Avenue and Marietta Boulevard over the nearby freight corridor. On the D, it’s bringing the line to Panthersville instead of terminating at Decatur. I wanted feedback on this one due to Candler road being one lane in each direction between Decatur and Memorial Drive, as well as the possibility of that line being too long. The E is dotted after Bankhead for the same reason as length concerns.
- None of these lines (excluding Crosstown West and the loop) run on one-laned streets with the exception of minor segments that don’t have vehicle congestion (ex. the C to the Northwest on Ellsworth Industrial Boulevard). I did this to avoid a situation where extreme traffic can slow the train down. This was very apparent during 404 Day Weekend where the streetcar was suspended due to Auburn and Edgewood being extremely backed up.
- I only interlined a max of two lines to avoid congestion.
- Should I have given Washington Road/Cleveland a route? Last time I made one of these maps I got comments referencing the lack of more lines in SW Atlanta, but that was heavy rail as opposed to this one being light rail. The necessity of tunneling under/directly next to residential neighborhoods wouldn’t be required here.
- I tried to make these as interconnected as reasonably possible, opting for lines to share the same trackage in certain points, as well as utilizing the loop as a connector.
- The Rapid A line route isn’t included in this netwok due to challenges connecting it to everything else while serving the same places, assume the BRT still exists here.
- Why not Cumberland? Well one its in Cobb County so it couldn’t go there regardless, but also I think that area should be along a hypothetical heavy rail line int the county.