City consolidates transit studies
 
Atlanta's development agency appears to be doing all it can to fast-track an effort to determine the feasibility of a transit loop and greenway around the inner city.

The city has asked the private sector for proposals on how to fund construction of the Belt Line, which is expected to spark development in blighted neighborhoods and possibly provide transit through a greenway. The working idea is to create a special tax district to buy land and help fund projects in the corridor.

Now the Atlanta Development Authority is offering to help companies get the information they need as fast as possible. It will assemble existing studies, rather than having the companies seek them. And it will make arrangements for data to be provided swiftly by key potential partners, including the city, the Atlanta Regional Commission, the Trust for Public Land and the PATH Foundation.

The authority also narrowed the focus of the study. Instead of having companies consider a wide array of possible routes, including potential recommendations from an ongoing review by MARTA, the companies are to consider 22-mile-long loop now comprised of unused rail lines.
 
— David Pendered
 
Source:  ajc.com>metro>horizons>ahead of the curve