A Powder Springs company is developing a proposal to build a transit line using magnetic levitation technology from Kennesaw State University in west Cobb County, across the top of the Perimeter, to Dunwoody in north DeKalb County.
Cobb County Commissioner Bob Ott discussed the plan at a Thursday meeting of the Cumberland Community Improvement District.
Ott said that American Maglev Technology is preparing a proposal for a 22-mile line, costing $400 million to $500 million, to be built using private funding along I-575 and I-75 from Kennesaw State south to the vicinity of Cumberland Mall in Smyrna.
The line then would turn east, possibly run parallel to I-285, cross Sandy Springs and terminate at Perimeter Mall in Dunwoody. There, it could connect to the MARTA Red Line.
Each train would float on a cushion of magnetic force and carry 110 passengers at a speed of about 60 mph. The fare would be $4.
In a telephone interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Ott said that to ensure the project’s financial viability, American Maglev would ask the 11 governmental entities along the line – “there are three CIDs, three counties and five cities” – to guarantee 35,000 riders a day.
“The rationale for that, they tell us, is that they need to make sure everybody has some skin in the game and make some efforts to try to get passengers there,” Ott said. “More importantly, they don’t want any of those entities to introduce something to compete and take passengers away.”
American Maglev also would need government help securing the right-of-way, Ott said.
The proposal is not on the list of projects to be funded by the regional transportation tax or T-SPLOST. If approved by voters next year, the 1 percent sales tax for the 10-county metro area is expected to raise $6.1 billion over 10 years for regional transportation.
-- The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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