It's interesting how things cycle around. With two icons of American transportation faultering or failed on Atlanta's Southside (Delta and Ford), it could be rail that helps bring desperately needed economic recovery.
The Ford Motor Plant closing has removed the primary sticking point between Norfolk Southern and GDOT. With the plant shutdown, the eight million dollar track upgrades NS had previously stipulated are no longer necessary, freeing the long-stalled Atlanta - Lovejoy Commuter Rail Project for passenger traffic within two years (DOT Board Chairman Mike Evans says Commuter Rail is "full steam ahead").
The national trend shows six dollars of redevelopment investment for every one dollar of rail investment.
This makes the Ford Plant, with it's position between the rail and downtown Hapeville, ripe for transformation into a Transit-Oriented, Mixed-Use Development.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
You are dead-on. Imagine the Ford plant retooling, as it could with relative ease, to build transit trains and air tram gondolas.
Post a Comment