Atlanta — Streetcar Plan Expanded

Rail Transit Online, July 2006

The Peachtree Corridor Task Force, a committee of business and community leaders appointed by Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin to advance the proposed 14.2-mi. (22.9 km) Peachtree streetcar line, has recommended expanding the project south by about two miles (3.2 km).  The additional trackage would allow streetcar passengers to connect with the future Beltline, a loop of active and abandoned freight tracks that would be converted to urban uses including a rapid transit route, parks, trails and mixed-used development.  “You'll get a citywide buy-in if you extend it south,” task force member Nelson Geter told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  “This is a way to extend a welcome mat to the south side.”  Originally, the streetcar line would have linked Phipps Plaza in affluent Buckhead to the West End neighborhood south of downtown.  The extension would serve several economically disadvantaged areas.  The capital cost still hasn’t been determined but a 2004 consultant study estimated the price tag at $22.5 million per mile.  The task force is scheduled to complete a plan early in 2007 for the streetcar and physical improvements to the Peachtree corridor including new landscaping, lighting and other pedestrian-friendly amenities.