Advocacy group tries to tell MARTA what to do financially regarding BeltLine project

The 22-mile-long Atlanta BeltLine project combines multiuse trails and a light-rail line.

MARTA

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) does not need to be told how to spend money. However, that is exactly what advocacy group BeltLine Rail Now is doing via a white paper it submitted to the transit agency regarding the Atlanta BeltLine project.

The BeltLine is a 22-mile-long project that combines multiuse trails and a light-rail line around the city of Atlanta. Much of the right-of-way for the light-rail line will come from old railroad corridors. A few sections of the trail have been built, but the transit portion is still on the drawing board.

Funding for the $2.5 billion transit portion of BeltLine will come from More MARTA, which is a half-penny sales tax, and other sources, some of which have not yet been determined. BeltLine Rail Now was formed over the concern that the rail part of the BeltLine was losing political momentum. In fact, some city officials were thinking about using buses over light rail.

When the talk of funding another multiuse trail surfaced, BeltLine Rail Now issued a white paper arguing that transit also needs to be part of the equation. BeltLine Rail Now also believes the project could be completed 20 years earlier, in 2030, by using a mix of federal funding, special assessment districts, sales taxes and tax increment financing.

“Current More MARTA plans target completion of BeltLine rail for 2050, and we are here to remind our mayor and city council that the BeltLine is a visionary equity project and not simply a concrete path,” said BeltLine Rail Now in a press release. “Without the density and mobility that transit allows, there can be no significant affordable housing. And without transit built from the beginning, displacement of long-time residents is accelerating. The promotion of a tax-subsidized trail without BeltLine rail has worsened problems like these.”

MARTA knows additional funding sources are necessary for the project, but says the BeltLine Now white paper is a wish list for funding, not a blueprint. The agency also has other light-rail projects on the docket that need to be funded in addition to the BeltLine project.

Read more articles on passenger rail.