Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Atlanta

If Not for Trump, Last Night Would Have Been Great for Transit

By Angie Schmitt | Nov 9, 2016 | 50 Comments

Last night had the makings of a historic election for transit. Voters in cities as varied as Raleigh, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles turned out to support ballot measures to dramatically expand bus and rail service. But the election of Donald Trump and the retention of GOP majorities in both houses of Congress cast a pall of uncertainty over transit agencies […]

Transit Vote 2016: Atlanta May Finally Expand MARTA and Beef Up Bus Service

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 27, 2016 | 4 Comments

We continue our overview of what’s at stake in the big transit ballot initiatives this November with a look at Atlanta. Previous installments in this series examined Indianapolis, Seattle, and Detroit. Back in the 1970s, both Atlanta and Washington, D.C., received federal grants to build rail networks. After finishing the first wave of Metro construction, D.C. continued to invest, […]

Atlanta BeltLine Visionary Speaks Out on His Very Public Resignation

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 5, 2016 | 12 Comments

Not many planners get an opportunity to influence their city in the way Atlanta’s Ryan Gravel has. The concept Gravel laid out in visionary master’s thesis — transforming forgotten railroad tracks circling the city of Atlanta into a recreational and active transportation corridor — laid out an entirely new organizing principle for the city and inspired […]

Atlanta Looks for Options Where Bidirectional Protected Bike Lanes Intersect

By Michael Andersen | Jul 25, 2016 | No Comments

Michael Andersen blogs for The Green Lane Project, a PeopleForBikes program that helps U.S. cities connect high-comfort biking networks. Bidirectional protected bike lanes, which put both directions of bike traffic on the same side of a street, aren’t ideal. But they can be useful in a pinch. Like all protected bike lanes, well-designed bidirectionals are […]

Reminder: Just Laying Track Is No Guarantee Riders Will Come

By Angie Schmitt | May 12, 2016 | 55 Comments

Laying track isn’t enough to build a successful transit system — as some cities are learning the hard way. A slate of new rail projects — mostly mixed-traffic streetcars, but that’s not the only way to mess up — are attracting embarrassingly few passengers. Some of these projects may be salvageable to some extent, but for now, they don’t […]

Does It Make Sense for Transit Agencies to Pay for “Last Mile” Uber Trips?

By Angie Schmitt | Apr 28, 2016 | 11 Comments

Should transit agencies subsidize short “last-mile” Uber trips to expand transit access for people who live outside comfortable walking distance of a train station? Columbus, Ohio, has proposed something along these lines as part of its application for U.S. DOT’s Smart City Challenge. The city is one of seven finalists competing for a $50 million federal grant. New technologies associated with ride-hailing services […]

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