Streetcar to Beltline, MLK Drive overhaul competing for federal cash

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? Riders on the Atlanta Streetcar system could hop off at the Atlanta Beltline — and bicyclists along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive would pedal a little more peacefully — if the city emerges victorious from a highly competitive contest for federal cash.
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? Last month, the city submitted two applications for an annual TIGER grant aimed at funding transit projects across the country. Winners are expected to be announced in the fall.
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? The city is asking the feds for $29.3 million to fund the $60 million extension of the Atlanta Streetcar to the Atlanta Beltline Eastside Trail.
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? Atlanta Streetcar Spokeswoman Scheree Rawles says officials are examining three possible routes, but only one will be chosen. The shortest is .7 miles and begins at the intersection of Edgewood Avenue and Jackson Street and would run east along either Edgewood or Irwin Street. The second would be 1.3 miles traveling west along North Avenue to the North Avenue MARTA station. The most complex route would total 2.5 miles beginning at the North Avenue MARTA station and eventually intersecting with the first proposed route.
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? Two new cars and three new stops are included in the total projected cost of the streetcar’s extension. However, since city officials have not confirmed a designated route, locations of the new stops are to be determined. According to Invest Atlanta’s reports, pedestrian and cyclist facilities could also improve with “spot repaving along Edgewood Avenue, Jackson Street, Auburn Avenue, and Fort Street.”
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? Expanding the Downtown streetcar to the 22-mile loop around the city has always been a part of the plan, but this project would be the first step in the process. Construction is set to begin in the summer of 2017.
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? The TIGER grant would fund roughly half of the project. The other $32.2 million is split between local government and public/private partnerships with the Eastside Tax Allocation District to fund about half a million of the proposed figure. The Atlanta Regional Commission is also pitching in with $3 million from their pockets.
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? Even if the feds deny Atlanta’s grant application, Rawles says, a backup plan to pull together the necessary funding is already in the works. That includes competing for other funds made available by the U.S. Federal Transit Administration for new projects with a price tag of less than $75 million.
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?On the opposite side of town, after 40 years of wear and tear, a 7.2-mile stretch of MLK Jr. Drive is also preparing to undergo renovation and beautification efforts. The city wants to compete for $25.9 million to fund the overhaul centered on the portion of the road that runs west from the location of the new Atlanta Falcon’s stadium and ends at Fulton Industrial Boulevard. The section of the project from Northside Drive to Ollie Street is expected to be completed with the stadium’s timeline.
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?Keith Reed, deputy press secretary for Mayor Kasim Reed’s office, said the $10 million from Invest Atlanta’s report is only a preliminary figure. Currently, the $4.57 million from the infrastructure bond that voters approved in March is the only cash the city has pledged toward the project. Other possible financial backers listed on the report are the Georgia Department of Transportation, Invest Atlanta, the PATH Foundation, and the Hollowell-MLK and Westside TAD’s.
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?The overall facelift of MLK is not one big project, but multiple smaller projects that will make up the whole. For bikers and walkers, the city intends to build linear pocket parks, create buffer strips between the main thoroughfare and multi-use trails, and install new street and pedestrian lighting. Drivers should expect to see a new roundabout near the West Lake MARTA station and improvements at a sharp curve near Fairfield Place.
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?Ashview Heights Community Association President David Gregory says the MLK Jr. Drive overhaul could present a double-edged sword. The Ashview Heights community is one of several neighborhoods that will be impacted by the construction of MLK.
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?“There seems to be mixed feelings about the project because it appears that it could cause many more traffic congestion issues,” he said. “But on the flipside some people feel that it will be better to help clean up the bad elements that often are in certain areas of MLK."
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