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The Clifton Corridor is a proposed public transportation corridor in and near Atlanta, Georgia, roughly connecting the Buckhead, Emory University, and Decatur areas.
The proposed route stretches from:
MARTA selected light rail as the preferred mode for the corridor in 2012. Emory strongly supports rapid transit in the corridor. [1]
A local rail service along the Clifton Corridor was envisioned as early as 1961, when the line was included on maps for a potential regional transportation system. [2]
In March 2012, after considering bus, light rail and heavy rail rapid-transit options, [3] MARTA recommended a light rail option. [4] In Summer 2012, there was a referendum on a 1-cent sales tax (SPLOST) to fund traffic and road improvements. If approved, the tax would have provided $700 million to fund rapid transit along the Clifton Corridor. [5] The measure was defeated by voters.
By the summer of 2018, MARTA updated the Clifton Corridor fact sheet with Alternative 6 shown as the selected routing split into two phases. At that time, MARTA estimated construction of first phase from Lindburgh to North Decatur / Clairmont to begin in 2022 and be complete and operational by 2026. The initial segment was estimated to cost between $900 million to $1.3 billion, with build-out of the full line running $1.8–2.1 billion. [6] [ non-primary source needed ]
However, as of January 2022 MARTA has not yet allocated funding for construction, which prevents the Federal Transit Administration from allocating matching funds. [7] [8] By February 2023, MARTA had eliminated the light rail option and was proceeding to plan a bus rapid transit line along the corridor. [9]
MARTA proposes stations at: [6]
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority is the principal public transport operator in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Formed in 1971 as strictly a bus system, MARTA operates a network of bus routes linked to a rapid transit system consisting of 48 miles (77 km) of rail track with 38 subway stations. MARTA's rapid transit system is the eighth-largest rapid transit system in the United States by ridership.
The Atlanta Beltline is an open and planned loop of 22 miles (35 km) of multi-use trail and light rail transit on a former railway corridor around the core of Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Beltline is designed to reconnect neighborhoods and communities historically divided and marginalized by infrastructure, improve transportation, add green space, promote redevelopment, create and preserve affordable housing, and showcase arts and culture. The project is in varying stages of development, with several mainline and spur trails complete. Since the passage of the More MARTA sales tax in 2016, construction of the light rail streetcar system is overseen by MARTA in close partnership with Atlanta Beltline, Inc.
Through much of the 19th century, Pace's Ferry was an important ferry across the Chattahoochee River near Atlanta. Started in the early 1830s near Peachtree Creek, it was run by Hardy Pace, one of the city's founders. It was an important transportation link to northwestern Georgia, especially prior to the construction of the State Road to Chattanooga.
Arts Center station is a train station in Atlanta, Georgia, serving the Red and Gold lines of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. It is the northernmost of three MARTA stations that serve Midtown Atlanta, the others being Midtown and North Avenue. North of this station, Lindbergh Center, the tracks emerge out from the subway as it approaches the above ground station.
Midtown is an underground metro station in Atlanta, Georgia, serving the Red and Gold lines of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. Located in Midtown Atlanta, 5,644 daily fares were collected at the gates as of 2013.
Lindbergh Center station is an at-grade train station in Atlanta, Georgia, serving the Red and Gold lines of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. It serves the Lindbergh/Morosgo neighborhood in southern Buckhead, and is a part-time terminus of the Red Line and the last transfer point for the Red and Gold (Doraville) rail lines. It is the only station on this route served by the Red and Gold lines at all times. This is the third busiest station in the MARTA system, handling an average of 23,400 boardings per weekday. It is important to the MARTA system for a number of reasons. It is adjacent to the MARTA headquarters building, located just north of the Armour Yard Rail Services Facility, which allows trains to come into service at a more central location than was previously possible, and at an important junction point for the future Belt Line and Clifton Corridor.
Decatur station is a transit station in Decatur, Georgia, on the Blue Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. This station opened on June 30, 1979. In 2005, a major renovation of the Church Street entrance to the station was begun that was completed in 2006. The redesign was intended to allow the station to fit in better with the stores and restaurants in the Decatur square. It has 2 tracks and side platforms that serve each track. It is one of the only stations on the Blue Line that is completely underground.
Avondale is a train station in Decatur, Georgia. It is on the Blue Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. The station is at-grade and has two island platforms, one for each direction. The center two tracks are not normally used for through service. Because of these middle tracks, it is not uncommon for trains to be bound for Avondale, having passengers change trains at Avondale. A limited number of Green Line trains originate and terminate at Avondale rather than at their normal terminus at Edgewood / Candler Park, though these trains bypass East Lake and Decatur.
Inman Park / Reynoldstown is a train station in Atlanta, Georgia, serving the Blue Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. It also serves the Green Line on weekdays, and has two side platforms and two tracks. This station opened June 30, 1979.
East Lake is a transit station in Atlanta and Decatur, Georgia, serving the Blue Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. It has a track in each direction serving an island platform. When the station entered service on June 30, 1979, the opening ceremony took place in the south parking lot.
Buckhead is a train station in Atlanta, Georgia, serving the Red Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. This station is the first station only served by the Red Line. It is located in the Buckhead neighborhood in the median of State Route 400, a limited access highway, at Peachtree Road/State Route 141. The station is in easy walking distance of many offices, hotels and shopping centers, including Lenox Square, although the Lenox MARTA station provides easier access to the mall. The buc, a zero-fare bus service, also provides transportation to the surrounding area. The Buckhead Station also features Zipcars.
The MARTA rail network, a component of the MARTA transit system in Metro Atlanta, has four service lines: the Red, Gold, Blue, and Green lines. The Red and Gold lines mainly run along the North-Northeast corridor, and the Blue and Green Lines run along the West-East corridor. The two corridors connect at the Five Points station, which is the only station where transfers are possible between all four lines. In 2023, the system had a ridership of 31,110,300, or about 90,500 per weekday as of the second quarter of 2024.
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority was created as the first public mass transit agency in metropolitan Atlanta. Its formation in 1965 was a result of the campaigning efforts of governmental planning agencies and Atlanta businessmen. The system broke ground on its rail system in 1975.
The transportation system of Georgia is a cooperation of complex systems of infrastructure comprising over 1,200 miles (1,900 km) of interstates and more than 120 airports and airbases serving a regional population of 59,425 people.
Streetcars originally operated in Atlanta downtown and into the surrounding areas from 1871 until the final line's closure in 1949.
In Atlanta, Georgia, trolleybuses, generally called trackless trolleys there, were a major component of the public transportation system in the middle decades of the 20th century, carrying some 80 percent of all transit riders during the period when the system was at its maximum size. At the end of 1949 Atlanta had a fleet of 453 trolleybuses, the largest in the United States, and it retained this distinction until 1952, when it was surpassed by Chicago.
Armour Yard is a railyard on the northwest side of Interstate 85 between the Piedmont Road and Monroe Drive exits in northeast Atlanta, Georgia, south of the Lindbergh neighborhood of Buckhead. For southbound travelers, it can be easily seen below from the freeway viaduct, and looking underneath the massive viaduct from "old 85".
Lindbergh, officially Lindbergh/Morosgo, is a neighborhood in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the neighborhood consists of multi-use development combining retail, office and residential space.
Peachtree Hills is a neighborhood within the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. It primarily contains residential buildings, however, commercial buildings are scattered throughout the neighborhood. Peachtree Battle Shopping Center is located within the borders of Peachtree Hills.
Atlanta's transportation system is a complex multimodal system serving the city of Atlanta, Georgia, widely recognized as a key regional and global hub for passenger and freight transportation. The system facilitates inter- and intra-city travel, and includes the world's busiest airport, several major freight rail classification yards, a comprehensive network of freeways, heavy rail, light rail, local buses, and multi-use trails.