Currently, the Beltline is extremely beneficial for the city of Atlanta, as it connects people and adds to the city’s unique culture. However, with some improvements, such as the addition of a light rail network, it could be better.
Atlanta’s beltline provides residents with a 22 mile walkable and bikeable pathway, which makes a circle around the center of the city. It links countless neighborhoods and connects to parks as well as commercial and recreational centers, such as Ponce City Market. As of now though, it’s all just a paved walkway.
While the Beltline does a good job of connecting areas in the city, walking and biking can only get commuters so far. With the Beltline being 22 miles, walking the entire loop would take over 6 hours, which is not at all practical for commuters. This is where the Beltline’s light rail would come into play, making it much easier to travel around Atlanta without the use of a car.
The Beltline’s roots can be traced back to rail lines, as most of the area used to make the loop came from abandoned railway beds, which were paved over to make the path. Furthermore, the idea of incorporating a rail line was included in the original plan all along. Ryan Gravel, a Georgia Tech student, originally proposed the Beltline in a term paper, where he described the Beltline as primarily a rail network around the city, with a pedestrian trail in the leftover green space. This iteration of the Beltline would be significantly better, as it would allow for a rail line to take commuters all around the city quickly and efficiently.
One of the greatest benefits of the light rail system would be the decreased strain on the city’s roads. Atlanta, which ranks in the bottom five of cities in terms of ease of travel by car, would see huge benefits if commuters had another option for getting to work. One person who works and lives close enough to the Beltline and chooses to ride the rail line is one less person behind the wheel during rush hour. This would help improve quality of life for intown commuters by significantly reducing traffic in the city.
Not only would it make life more convenient for people in Atlanta, it would also help to limit car dependency. In a city where 84.8% of households have a car, and only 3.5% of the population use any form of public transportation, it is evident that car dependency is a huge problem.
The simple reason for this reality is the lack of public transportation. Atlanta’s MARTA rail line and bus service is an option, but these networks can’t reach everywhere in the city. Atlanta residents cannot rely on the city’s current public transportation to get them where they need to go, so logically they need to own cars in order to go about their daily lives. While it wouldn’t cure Atlanta of its car dependency, a light rail would significantly increase the use of public transportation.
The light rail would not only see heavy use itself, but would also likely lead to more traffic on Atlanta’s already present transportation systems, such as MARTA. With a light rail, Atlanta residents could use it as a companion to MARTA, just like switching train lines to get where you need to go. The vision for the Beltline rail includes a plan to connect to existing MARTA lines, likely in the form of a terminal at already established MARTA stops. This connection is key to making the Beltline rail effective, as it will make so much more of the city accessible by public transportation.
Another key benefit of the light rail would be its positive effect on the environment. A single person choosing to ride the light rail as opposed to driving would reduce their carbon footprint by 20 pounds of emissions a day, and over 48,000 pounds of emissions over the course of a year, all of which would otherwise be in our atmosphere. In addition to the effect of fewer cars, the light rail would be electrically powered, meaning it would give off almost no emissions.
However, there are some drawbacks to the light rail plan, with the most glaring one being the cost, which is expected to be over $1.65 billion. The city would need to use investments and taxpayer dollars to fund the construction of the rails as well as any infrastructure needed to support the rail line such as bridges, stations and the extensive network of power cables. All of that comes before the city could see any significant return on investment from fares. Despite these drawbacks though, the benefit of a light rail system being established in Atlanta would be well worth the investment. Even though it would cost a lot, it’s something that would actually have a tangible, positive impact on the people who’s taxes funded it. Atlanta’s residents would get to reap the benefits of a light rail system they helped pay for.
Numerous cities like Seattle, Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco already have a light rail system, and most have dealt with the same drawbacks when first establishing their rail lines. However, these major cities have benefited their populations greatly in the long-term through the introduction of light rail lines, as their citizens use them every day. This project would only serve to benefit Atlantans in the long run.
Atlanta has a chance to join these cities in their use of a light rail system, while benefiting the people who live here. Although there will surely be challenges along the way, the positives of the Beltline light rail system heavily outweigh the negatives.
