Atlanta — Streetcar Plan Expanded

Rail Transit Online, November 2004

A proposal to build an eight-mile (12.9 km) streetcar line along Peachtree Street from downtown Atlanta to Buckhead is still in the conceptual stage but consultants involved with a $425,000 feasibility study have already suggested expanding the route with a 3.5-mi. (5.6 km) loop around downtown and a northern extension of more than six miles (9.6 km).  The loop would travel east to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and west to the Georgia Dome, also serving the new aquarium and providing about a quarter of the streetcar’s daily ridership.  The project is being pursued by Atlanta Streetcar Inc., a private nonprofit organization which is paying for the study by HDR Inc. (see RTOL, Feb. 2004).  The group was organized by influential members of the business community such as Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus.  The latest estimate shows the capital cost would be at least $324 million, and no funding sources have yet been identified.  But the study also projects the trolleys would generate more than $4 billion in new investment, which would be a plus if federal funding is to be sought.  Atlanta Streetcar officials say they hope to build the line with a minimum of public money.