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Marta in Metro Augusta


augga706

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This is a some info from a dekalb county transportaion meeting about growth in GA & how marta will service GA. It seems that columbus is left out, that sucks if it got beat by athens. I thought marta wasnt intrested in augusta yet & gov. sonny perdue wanted to take it to savannah & macon first. Thats why city officials in aug have had meetings with amtrak on its own, i guess mr. perdue just wants aug & athens to be after macon, savannah, & chattanoga. I know macon is the closes to atl but aug should be first in line since our rail would combine columbia,sc & augusta,ga to atl. The other would probably connect augusta to savannah to fla.

Arthur Barnes, director of the Georgia Rail Passenger Authority, explained that his agency is charged with implementation of a passenger rail system to serve commuters. He explained that this passenger rail system will use existing rail lines within the state of Georgia and a small section of Tennessee and will offer morning, afternoon, and evening peak service. Trains may stop every 10 miles and go out maybe 60 miles. When finished, the system will serve all of Georgia (specifically the cities of Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, Athens, Savannah, and Chattanooga.). He explained that a double deck train system (each carrying 150 people) with 300 or more cars will have a positive impact on air quality and congestion.

Why do u think about this proposal for GA, & how do u feel that they pick athens over columbus & even chattanooga which belongs to tn our tax money used on another state.

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Actually, I think they were talking about commuter rail, not MARTA specifically. MARTA is for Atlanta and its metro alone. This sort of thing gets brought up every now and then, but nothing's ever done about it.

Also, I think any rail going from somewhere in GA to Chattanooga would probably be done with the state of Tennessee's help. Athens was probably chosen due to the fact that a lot of people go to the town to visit UGA (especially on Saturdays in the fall). Columbus doesn't have that kind of a draw yet.

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With tn help i know but i doubt many ppl in ga are going to ride a rail to chatt-town unless they are close to tn line already. To me it would be much more beneficial to connect fla to ga or ga to sc before ga to tn. I would happen to think more residents from south cak & fla or in GA more than any other states. Atleast GA is realizing its full potential, transit is needed to be like tx, fla, & cali who have alot of major cities.

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Intercity Rail Program

Athens & Birmingham were excluded from intercity rail but not commuter rail it seems.

Columbus will get intercityrail, theyre trying to make them reach speeds of 110 miles per hour amtrak only goes 79.

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macon's line would have the most passenger's daily to atl, followed columbus & albany because of ppl from jacksonville, 4th was savannah, then brimingham, augusta & greenville the least amount of riders besides athens in last.

I noticed our ridership is low that must mean augusta should be a major city wont need atl

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I think if you do a little more research you will find that there are perhaps 3 potential rail lines in GA with enough support/attention to happen within the next decade. Unfortunately, I think you will also find that in the current political climate in the state, no rail line is likely to happen any time soon.

Nonetheless, the following 3 lines are the ones with the most planning/attention:

1. Downtown ATL to to Lovejoy, GA.

The good: This line already has secured >100 million federal start-up dollars.

The line could eventually be extended to Macon.

The bad: The main reason this line has start-up dollars has to do with the fact that it was the easiest/quickest to plan, since the freight lines were generally already available.

Most of the cities along the rail line have declined to support the rail line financially.

Many rail supporters in GA do not think this is the most viable potential rail line in the state and are afraid this will fail-rendering other rail development in the state impossible to develop.

2. Atlanta to Athens.

The good: There is a lot of support for this line currently, little of which has to do with projected downtown Athens to downtown ATL rideship numbers. Rather much of the support has to do with the fact that this would connect Ga Tech, Emory, and, UGA and that many of the stops would be in highly congested/populated areas with little alternative transportation (ie Gwinnett County). Check out http://www.georgiabraintrain.com/ and you will find a business group strongly supporting this line.

The Bad: Due to difficulty securing use of freight lines between ATL and Athens, the planning for this line took much longer than the Lovejoy line; hence, this line has no federal funds.

ATL to Chattannoga: I have less info here, but I understand federal funds are available for a mag-lev type line between the 2 cities. I suspect this appealing because the I75 corridor is fairly congested. I don't know much else about it.

Unfortunately, in the end, the state of GA would have to fund the operation of any commuter rail, and the elected leaders of the state as well as the DOT leadership have taken a very dim view of rail transportation.

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I think if you do a little more research you will find that there are perhaps 3 potential rail lines in GA with enough support/attention to happen within the next decade. Unfortunately, I think you will also find that in the current political climate in the state, no rail line is likely to happen any time soon.
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