Atlanta verges on a great planning disaster if it fails to build Beltline rail
With his reelection bid looming, Mayor Andre Dickens faces a decision that will determine his legacy — whether to scuttle or fulfill the vision of 22 miles of rail transit encircling Atlanta.
If the mayor continues to scale back the plan — a fear sown by his decision to delay the first stage of rail construction earlier this year — the Beltline may go down in history not as Atlanta’s renowned redevelopment project but its biggest lost opportunity, a great planning disaster.
As professors of urban planning, we fear Atlanta is failing to grasp the transformative potential of rail transit.
Rail is a golden opportunity to create a city of the future
In its nascent form, the Beltline has infused our city with something it previously lacked: urbanism.
Unlike the glassy towers of Midtown, the Beltline has cultivated the human energy, diversity and spontaneity that constitute the world’s great cities. People don’t come to the Beltline despite the crowds. They come for them.
So far, this urbanism is limited to a few pockets. Beltline rail would stretch and expand this activity. In ways a trail alone cannot, rail would support a network of vibrant places and make urban life an everyday experience, not a weekend destination, for a large share of Atlantans.
How? Rail signals a permanent public investment in affordable rapid transit. Like no other transit type, laying tracks tells residents and developers the city is committed to enabling car-free living. All the most dynamic global cities — from Tokyo to Barcelona — host extensive rail networks, with their most lively neighborhoods centered on rail hubs.
Those seeking to prune plans for 22 miles of light rail, limiting it to “transit-dependent” communities, misunderstand the role of transportation in making (and remaking) cities.
Good transit functions as a network. Residents of south and west Atlanta need more than a symbolic investment. They deserve a one-seat ride to the jobs and amenities of northeast Atlanta. Building only one section of rail would repeat the mistake of the Atlanta Streetcar.
More fundamentally, transit investments are not simply about servicing the city of today. They are about creating the city of tomorrow. A seamless rail loop following the Beltline can reinvent Atlanta, organize its future growth around a dense, walkable, curvilinear district linked to the city center by existing MARTA lines.
Others claim rail is outdated, and e-bikes and scooters are the transportation of the future. But these modes are complements, not substitutes. No city famous for bicycle commuters has prioritized cycling over the construction and maintenance of rail-based mass transit.
Another counterargument is that construction will be too disruptive to Beltline businesses. Again, this reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of transit. It is most necessary in places where economic activity concentrates, if businesses are to succeed in the long run. Just look at transit-starved West Midtown: restaurants are shuttering, choked by traffic and pricey parking.
As an off-street corridor, the Beltline is the least challenging place to build the high-quality mass transit Atlanta desperately needs. It’s a publicly owned right-of-way, requiring minimal land acquisition or bulldozing in established neighborhoods.
Atlanta has a golden opportunity — if only it would seize it.
Boston and New Orleans offer models for Beltline rail
Despite the obvious case for Beltline rail, design and implementation are crucial. Rail must enhance and expand, not erode, the urbanism born on the Beltline.
Dynamic stretches of today’s path are permeable membranes, with activity spilling from the pavement into the spaces that surround it. To maintain that porosity, we should model Beltline rail on the New Orleans streetcar. In that city, nothing is built or planted to discourage movement across the tracks. The rail line doubles as a park, stitching together adjacent neighborhoods.
Just as importantly, we must pair Beltline rail with a reinvigorated effort to preserve and expand affordability along the corridor. If surrounding neighborhoods lose their diversity, the Beltline will also lose its urbanism. The solution is to allocate more adjoining land for perpetual insulation from the market, held in community or public trusts and developed for permanently affordable housing and local, independent retail. A model is the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in Boston.
There is no better time for Atlanta to implement this vision. Unlike other projects, the first segment of Beltline Rail already has funding. In the current climate, Atlantans will probably need to foot more of the bill for aspirational infrastructure. If the city fails to deliver on what it’s already requested taxpayers to fund, it can forget about asking residents for more.
Every mayor seeks to cement a long-term legacy. If Mayor Dickens makes Beltline rail a reality, he can secure for Atlanta a status enjoyed by few southern cities: a genuine urbanism.
Gregory F. Randolph and Brian Stone are faculty members in the School of City and Regional Planning at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
