AJC: Bus Rapid Transit Service from Emory U area to MARTA north line route undecided

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ARMOUR YARDS STOP COULD STALL CLIFTON BRT FOR 10 YEARS

MARTA plans to build a rapid bus route to serve the Clifton Corridor but is still deciding where to end the route in the north.

 

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC 2023

The Clifton Corridor bus rapid transit project could take between 13 and 18 years to complete if a new Armour Yards MARTA station is chosen as the northern endpoint. That’s notably longer than if the route were to end at Lindbergh Center as planned.

In light of a push by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens to put both BRT and a new train station at Armour Yards, a new feasibility study by MARTA went back to the drawing board last year.

Armour Yards is “viable but presents notable risks,” MARTA officials concluded. It could add between six and 10 years to the BRT project’s timeline, which led them to recommended the project end at Lindbergh Center instead. The report was shared in December with members of the committee that oversees More MARTA projects.

• The Clifton Corridor is one of the metro’s largest employment centers not currently accessible by high-speed transit. It holds Emory University, the VA Medical Center and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to name a few.
• Armour Yards became a possibility instead of Lindbergh Center after Dickens named it as one of four potential new MARTA station locations. It’s mostly industrial today, home to MARTA and Norfolk Southern rail yards.
• SweetWater Brewing Co., the District NightClub and other businesses are also in Armour Yards, though, and officials see substantially more opportunity for redevelopment on the site given how close it is to the Beltline.

🔎 READ MORE: Take a deeper dive into the report and the cost of BRT