The Beltline Unbuckled

Atlanta to Macon SouthLine Rail 

THE BELTLINE UNBUCKLED: WHY THE SOUTHLINE FROM ATLANTA TO MACON IS JUST AS SIGNIFICANT AS THE INTOWN BELTLINE

By now many are familiar with the BeltLine, the 22 mile Intown trail and transit loop poised to transform the core of Atlanta. The BeltLine has gained amazing traction in the public and private realms this past year, and for good reason, with it's promise of community connectivity, brownfield redevelopment, and auto independence. James Langford, Director of the Trust for Public Land, Georgia says "the possibility that the old loop of railways could serve as a multiuse transit corridor with parks anchoring future redevelopment is an opportunity unmatched in America." [Source: ajc.com:: Bold Belt Line/park plan would break new ground].

Mr. Langford's statement should help us to envision the potential inherent in the coming Atlanta - Lovejoy Commuter Rail Line, slated to begin service in the Fall of 2006. Although originally intended to reach all the way to Macon while passing through several Southside cities, the Governor said the budget simply wouldn't allow for the $350 million (year 2003 dollars) price tag. However, a consortium of Mayors and Movers-and-Shakers from East Point, Forest Park, Morrow, Jonesboro, and LoveJoy, convinced that the rail should no longer be delayed, approached the Governor with an offer he couldn't refuse: They would commit portions of their local budgets to absorb any shortfall in revenues from ridership against operating expenses if he would simply commit the federal funds already allocated.

Although the available $106 million only reaches to LoveJoy, it's a start. Click here for a detailed GDOT report on this initiative.

From a budget stance, there should be no argument about taking the line all the way to Macon, when you consider that the total expenditure of $350 million gets us 103 miles of track, stations and rolling stock carrying 7200 trips a day versus just 9 miles of intown HOV with no significant relief in gridlock and a further decrease in air quality.

Equally compelling is the realization that, just as the BeltLine passes through such cherished landscape as Piedmont Park, Westview Cemetery, Ansley Golf Club, and Zoo Atlanta, the SouthLine passes through towns ripe with potential like Hampton, Barnesville, and Griffin. These towns were thriving centers of commerce when rail was relevant to their economies with many rail passengers making connections from their stations to points north and south on a daily basis. With it's built-in infrastructure as a rail-centric city, one can imagine a new Griffin rising, like the mythical bird, from the ashes of it's previous glory days with a new Intercity Rail Station and a strategic postion on a world class alternative transportion corridor. One can visualize Hampton residents able to walk or bike to and from the station without the use of their cars and a town better able to accommodate the huge influx of visitors to the Atlanta Motor Speedway every year. Just as significant as the highly touted brownfield redevelopment potential of land in proximity to the BeltLine, these towns possess acres and acres of resurrectable residential and retail opportunities within the pedestrian shed of their proposed station sites.

Most importantly, the SouthLine strand would connect 12 municipal "jewels", not only to Atlanta and each other, but to the BeltLine itself. While the BeltLine is a loop opportunity and the Southline is a linear opportunity, they are simply different expressions of the same solution. We would be so bold as to suggest the SouthLine and the BeltLine be seen as a single entity -- the BeltLine Unbuckled, if you will -- and viewed as a 125 mile alternative transportation venue. To view the SouthLine as only ferrying commuter traffic into Atlanta in the mornings and back in the evenings is, we believe, short-sighted. When you start to visualize intercity rail traffic throughout the day, then you begin to grasp the real potential of the SouthLine.

In addition, the opportunities for accommodating the coming population growth cannot be overemphasized. With the region speculated to grow in the millions within the next 20 years, progressive and creative governments and policy makers along the SouthLine have within their grasp an unprecedented mechanism for controlling the growth by employing Smart Growth principles around the rail nodes. By changing the local zoning and ordinances to accommodate mixed-use development and allow for transit villages to organically grow along the SouthLine, and by encouraging and incenting infill development around the rail nodes, we can hope to grow less chaotically and significantly reduce the effects of sprawl and traffic congestion, simply by giving a portion of the incoming population a choice not presently offered.

The reality is that passengers will travel the SouthLine long before any do the BeltLine. This work must begin now and in earnest in order to seize the opportunity. These towns cannot afford to be in denial about the fact that they are positioned to soon be swept into the ever expanding orbit of the fastest growing human settlement in the history of Planet Earth. With foresight, creativity, and passionate action, cities on the SouthLine can be the architects of opportunities unmatched in America.

Burke Sisco
Chairman
Trail + Rail Action Coalition [TRAC]
Hampton, Georgia
www.trailrail.org