GROWING POPULARITY OF BELTLINE DUE TO IT'S UNIQUE NEXUS OF TRANSPORTATION AND LAND USE

It's easy to see why the Belt Line is getting so much attention. Unlike some other transit projects that are too narrowly focused, the Belt Line recognizes the missing links between transportation and land use, a nexus that will become increasingly important as the population growth the city has seen in the last decade continues. A recent study found that Atlanta's core neighborhoods alone will add 180,000 new residents and 13,000 more jobs by 2030.

If the Belt Line is built, officials are confident that the value of the property would rapidly escalate, as it did in the Pearl District in Portland, Ore. The Pearl District attracted more than $1 billion in real estate improvements within five years of the launch of a streetcar line through the former warehouse sector.

City records show that land adjacent to the proposed Belt Line currently has a taxable value of $244.4 million, and transportation studies have found that every dollar invested in transit reaps about $6 in new investment.

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Source: ajc.com > Opinion