Box 21, Folder 6, Document 67

Box 21, Folder 6, Document 67

RAPID TRANSIT

PROGRESS

METROPOLITAN ATLANTA RAPID TRANSIT AUTHORITY



“MARTA REPORTS TO THE PEOPLE IT SERVES...” DECEMBER 1967

VOLUME 2, No,12

ENGINEERS SUBMIT REVISED
RAPID TRANSIT PLAN |



The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA)
has officially received from the engineers, Parsons Brinckerhoff-
Tudor-Bechtel, an updated report covering a rapid transit system
for Metropolitan Atlanta. The report was publicly released De-
cember 3.

Richard H. Rich, MARTA Chairman, stated, “The report
brings up to date a similar one prepared in 1962 for the Atlanta
Transit Study Commission, a predecessor group to MARTA. As
submitted to the Authority, the new report includes a financial
feasibility study made by the economic consulting firm of Ham-
mer, Greene, Siler Associates.”

“It should be clearly understood that this is not MARTA’s
report,” Rich continued. “Rather, it is a report of the engineers
and the economic consultants to MARTA.”

“The engineers have been working on their updating for well
over a year,” he said. “Their report reflects changes that have oc-
curred in population, employment, economy, land use, physical
characteristics, travel demand, transit vehicle design and costs in
the last five years. It proposes certain changes in previously pro-
posed rapid transit routes and station locations to meet the
changes in Atlanta itself.”

“The Authority and its staff have been working with the engi-
neers and have studied the report. Generally, we think it looks

eit eon

on
ch ae PLANNING
POL

good, and it would become the skeleton of a balanced transpor-
tation system for Metropolitan Atlanta,”

“MARTA expects to make a more comprehensive report to
the people of Georgia, especially those living in the Metropolitan
Atlanta Area, sometime in 1968,” he said. “We anticipate that
report will cover an overall, balanced mass transit system for At-
lanta. Coordinated with existing transit and transportation facil-
ities, rapid transit will thus be a part of a total balanced trans-
portation system which will meet immediate travel demands, as
well as those anticipated in the future.”’

“MARTA is beginning now a series of additional studies, con-
sultations and, eventually, public hearings aimed at developing a
plan for such a balanced transportation system. In this process
we recognize that coordination with the Atlanta Transit System
and the State Highway Department and the full cooperation and
approval of Metropolitan Atlanta Area governments will be re-
quired. Toward this end, copies of the Engineers’ report have
been given in advance to these agencies,” he concluded.

While distribution of the full report is necessarily limited, the
16-page “Special Summary Report” is available to the public.
Copies can be picked up at no cost at the MARTA offices, 808
Glenn Building, 120 Marietta Street.

- Additional stories on Pages 2, 3 and 4.




METROPOLITAN ATLANTA
RAPID TRANSIT AUTHORITY

808 GLENN BLOG.*120 MARIETTA ST.. N.W,
ATLANTA, GA, 30303 *PHONE 524-5711

“DIRECTED BY THE GEORGIA STATE
LEGISLATURE TO DEVELOP A RAPID
TRANSIT SYSTEM FORTHE 5-COUNTY
METROPOLITAN ATLANTA AREA."

Edited by Kinc E..iort

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS:

Ricnagp H. Ricw, Chairman Roy A. Blount, Vice Chairman
Henrnert J. Dickson, Treasurer GLENN E. BENNETT, Secretary

CITY OF ATLANTA:
Rosert F. ADAMSON L. D. MiLton
Ricnarp H. Ricw Rawson Haverty
CLAYTON COUNTY:
Encar BLaLock
DEKALB COUNTY:
Roy A. BLounT Dr. SANFoRD ATWoop
FULTON COUNTY:
W. A. PuLVER MITCHELL C. BIsHor
GWINNETT COUNTY:
K. A. McMILten
COBB COUNTY (Observer)
Otis A. Brumpy, JR.
MARTA STAFF:

Henry L. Stuart, General Manager
EARL W. Netson, Chief Engineer
Kine Evt.ott, Director of Public Information
H. N, Jounson, Secretary to General Manager









ROLE OF BUS TO BE STUDIED

“The study of the role of buses in connection with rapid
transit is entirely consistent with the philosophy and current
programs of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority,
and we will cooperate fully with the Atlanta Region Metropoli-
tan Planning Commission in the pursuance of such a study,” says
Henry L. Stuart, MARTA General Manager.

The Atlanta Region Metropolitan Planning Commission on
December 11 approved a resolution to “undertake a study to de-
termine the proper and feasible role which surface buses can lo-
gically play in an interim, permanent, or combined rail-bus, mass
transit system for Metropolitan Atlanta.” Such a study had been
recommended by the Atlanta Board of Aldermen on December 4.

“As | understand it,” Stuart continued, “the study will be ‘of
sufficient depth’ to determine the proper role of the bus in a
mass transit system to serve Metropolitan Atlanta. 1 hope such a
study will address itself to all possible uses of the bus in connec-
tion with rapid transit and will examine proposals for reserved
lanes for buses in expressways; reserved lanes on surface streets;
paved lanes on railroad rights-of-way; ‘Hy-Rail’ buses which can
operate on streets and also run on flanged steel wheels on rail-
road tracks; “Heli-buses’, which can be picked up by large heli-
copters and flown from one location to another; electric buses on
elevated concrete roadways; ‘Hover-Craft’ air-cushion vehicles;
“Mini-Buses’; and any other applications of buses now in use or
under experimentation.”

“The results of such a study can be of considerable assistance
to MARTA in the determination of a final proposal for a bal-
anced transportation system,” Stuart concluded.

Yet to be decided are the cost and scope of the study and
who is to perform it.

“UNLESS WE MOVE TO MEET TRANSPORTATION needs
on a balanced and comprehensive basis, we will continue to be
confronted with such ironies as new aircraft, already in produc-
tion, capable of flying from New York to Seattle in about the
same time it takes a Manhattan taxicab to go crosstown.”
—Dr. William J. Ronan, Chairman, Metropolitan Commuter
Transportation Authority (New York).

GUEST EDITORIAL

(The following editorial and cartoon on next page appeared in the
ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, Sunday, December 3,
1967, and are reprinted with permission. )

1983-RAPID TRANSIT OR
DOUBLE TRAFFIC

There is nothing more maddening for a man than to have 300
horses under his hood and nothing but a half-mile of good road
and 300,000 cars between him and where he wants to go.

When Andrew Jackson was President it took him a month to
get from the Hermitage in Nashville to his office in Washington.
Almost a century and a half of progress later, Atlantans on their
way to work make just about that kind of time. And Rhett and
Scarlett thought THEY had trouble getting out of town.

The traffic situation in Atlanta, in short, is intolerable, and
the number of cars in town is supposed to double by 1983.

The only thing that can save us from devoting half our days to
getting back and forth slowly is a new transportation system.
The system that can move the most people fastest, and get them
in each other’s way least, is rapid rail transit.

* &¢ *

A new plan for such asystem has been presented by engineers
to the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, which has
been working since 1965 to carry out the mandate by which
Metropolitan Atlanta approved rapid transit in 1964.

The plan specifies exactly where the full 65-mile system even-
tually will go.

The plan includes specifications and aerial photos showing
what the new system will be like. It also tells us about how much
it will cost—$479 million, at least, for the first 54 miles. This in-
cludes everything that is planned except the line that will go into
Cobb County when and if that county’s citizenry realizes its
value. (Only Cobb, of all the metropolitan counties, elected not
to join MARTA.)

wet ok

Considerable impetus for the implementation of these plans
(as for the travels of Scarlett and Rhett) is expected from the
federal government. Some money is also expected from the State
of Georgia. But more than half of it will probably have to come
from the people of the Metropolitan area.

Sometime next year the people of Fulton and DeKalb Coun-
ties, in which the first 21 miles will be laid, will vote on a bond
issue to finance that first line, on which travel could begin by
1975.

We not only hope but pray they will approve the issue. Every
year construction of the system is delayed means it will cost
more. It will be a big job, and won’t be finished until 1985,

* ¢

It is either do this job, so that we can get to the central sta-
tion under Broad Street from Brookhaven in 14 minutes, or
from Forest Park in 17 minutes, or from Emory in |2—or else
learn to tolerate that 1985 traffic, which is going to consist, you
remember, of twice as many cars.

“THE SUBWAY IS THE BACKBONE of our transit system.

It has given our downtown core the assurance of stability and

permanence. Without doubt it has been and will continue to be

the catalyst for a whale of a lot of new development and the re-
development of older, uneconomic areas in our city.”

Ralph C. Day, Toronto Transit Commission Chairman

“THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION looks at the
transit industry as the best means immediately at hand for solv-
ing the problem of peak hour commuting and downtown con-
gestion.” -Alan S. Boyd, Secretary of Transportation




ANYONE FOR RAPID TRANSIT ?



RAPID TRANSIT BRIEFS

MARTA DIRECTOR Sanford Atwood has been reappointed
by the DeKalb County Commission to a new, four-year term
which will begin January 1, 1968. The term of Roy A. Blount,
the other director from DeKalb County will expire December
31, 1969.

DEKALB COUNTY COMMISSION at its December 12 meet-
ing adopted a resolution commending “MARTA for its approach
to the problems and carrying out the wishes of the people” in the
development of a rapid transit proposal. The motion was made
by Commissioner Tom Callaway and was adopted unanimously.

NEW YORK STATE voters overwhelmingly approved a $2.5
billion transportation bond issue November 7. The vote was
2,743,431 to 1,965,558, or about 3 to 2. As one observer put it,
“Governor Nelson Rockefeller has shown that mass transporta-
tion is good politics.”

A ROME MAN has ordered the first ticket for a rapid transit
ride. Following a speech to the Rome Kiwanis Club, MARTA
General Manager Henry L. Stuart received a letter from Mr. Dean
Covington, a Rome lawyer, asking for the first ticket and enclos-
ing a check for 25 cents. At this point, Stuart hasn’t decided
whether to deposit the check and open up a new account, or sim-
ply to frame the check and hang it on the office wall.

MARTA CHIEF ENGINEER, Earl Nelson, was one of 500
transit experts who attended a one-day Washington conference
on “New Approaches to Urban Transportation” on November
29. The conference was sponsored by the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development.

A RAPID TRANSIT EXTENSION to O’Hare International
Airport was suggested in a consultant’s report on needs for virtu-
ally doubling the airport’s facilities pending the development of
a third major airport for the Chicago area. The need for a rapid
transit extension to the O’Hare airport was based on anticipa-
tions that highway routes would be “‘saturated” with traffic to
that busy location by 1975. The report estimated that addition-
al terminal facilities at O'Hare would cost $280 million and the
rapid transit extension $60 million,

GENERAL MANAGER STUART was a guest on an opening
day of WRNG Radio Atlanta when the Station began its broad-
casting operations Monday, December 4, Stuart discussed rapid
transit with host, Art Bradley, and answered questions phoned in
by the listening audience.





23 oe







rae) COMAVILLE
MARIETTA (FB

Fain cans le)






TRAVEL TIME
vommm tN MINUTES FROM

vw TRANSIT CENTER

2 INCLUDING STATION STOPS







HOW FAST TO DOWNTOWN?

The map above shows the travel times from the various pro-
posed rapid transit stations to Transit Center near Five Points.
This is one of many maps, charts, and tables contained in “A
Special Summary Report,” a layman’s version of the 1967 engi-
neering report released December 3rd. Copies may be picked up
at the MARTA offices, 808 Glenn Building.

Several architectural sketches show how stations might be
constructed in various situations. The picture below is of an em-
bankment station.

The report contains a proposal for a financing plan which
would use funds from local, state, and federal sources. The 30-
mile basic system could be built, under this plan, for about $332
million. The proposed plan suggests a combination of $199 mil-
lion local funds; $33 million from the State of Georgia, and $100
million from federal sources for the basic system.

Assuming the local share would be paid trom ad valorem
taxes, this would amount to a maximum of 3 mills in Fulton
County and 1.6 mills in DeKalb County.

The 52-mile regional system would cost about $479 million,
and would be based on an additional $100 million or more fed-
eral funds, and about 1.5 mills from Clayton and Gwinnett
Counties.

The report concludes. “The owner of a $20,000 home, for
example, in 1978 would pay $18.00 more if his home was in
Fulton County and $9.60 if his property was in DeKalb County.
Such costs—no more than 35 cents per week and less in non-peak
years—make rapid transit a good investment.


MART Answers

QUESTION: How does the 1967 report differ from the 1962
report?

ANSWER: Many significant changes in population, employment,
housing and traffic have occurred in the Metropolitan Atlanta
area since the 1962 rapid transit report was completed. Compari-
son of the new planning report with that published in 1962 re-
veals how the amended rapid transit plan directly reflects changes
in the Atlanta region which have occurred in the same period of
time. The revisions in the rapid transit plan include:

Rearrangement of lines to make Pershing Point the northern
terminus of the central distribution line, providing a Central
Line station adjoining Atlanta’s new Memorial Center.

Relocation of Transit Center Station to the south side of the
“gulch” opposite the new First National Bank Building to better
allow for planned utilization of railroad air rights.

Addition of a new station on the East Line to serve the State
Capitol area and the mushrooming campus of Georgia State Col-
lege.

Extension of subway along the entire Central Line from
Broad Street at Garnett Street on the south to Interstate 85
north of Pershing Point.

Relocation of the South Line between East Point and Moun-
tain View to provide direct service to the proposed new airport
terminal complex.

Introduction of numerous changes to improve station access,
to assure a harmonious relationship between stations and the sur-
rounding areas, and to impose higher standards of operation and
comfort.

QUESTION: Is the 1967 plan the official plan of how the sys-
tem will actually be built?

ANSWER: No. The 1967 report simply brings up to date the sys-
tem proposed in 1962. It does not include, for example, exten-
sions on the East and West lines to I-285; these extensions are
part of a preliminary engineering work now under way under a
separate contract. The new 1967 plan will be modified consider-
ably before a plan is developed to present to the public. Then, a
series of public meetings and formal public hearings will be held,
at which the public will be able to express their opinions of the
plans and to submit their ideas, After these meetings and hear-
ings are concluded, the ideas and comments will be evaluated,
and the Board of Directors will then make final decisions and de-
velop a final plan and program. This final plan and program will
then be submitted to the voters who will ultimately decide
whether rapid transit will be built.



6806 GLENN BLDG. - 120MARIETTA ST.. N.W. +
PHONE 524-5711 (AREA CODE 404)

DECEMBER 1967 , VOLUME 2, NO, 12

RAPID TRANSIT

PROGRESS

METROPOLITAN ATLANTA RAPID TRANSIT AUTHORITY

QUESTION: When will the referendum be held?

ANSWER: No final decision has been made, but MARTA plan-
ning at this point is looking toward a referendum in November
1968.

Given a successful referendum in 1968, first rapid transit serv-
ice could begin in 1974, with the entire 30-mile basic system in
operation in 1975 or 1976,

—Henry L, Stuart, MARTA General Manager



MART ActTIon

At its December meeting the MARTA Board of Directors ap-
proved a budget and work program of $1.5 million for 1968. A
more detailed explanation and breakdown of the $750,000 element
for the preliminary design of the transit center was requested, and
the budget was adopted subject to a satisfactory review of this
item.

In other action the Board of Directors authorized the General
Manager to sign the contracts between MARTA and the State De-
partment of Industry and Trade concerning the use of the state’s
appropriation of $500,000 for rapid transit; and reappointed
Arthur Andersen Company as auditor for 1968.

The Directors tentatively set the date for the next meeting for
January 5 subject to confirmation by letter. The Board meeting
will be held in Room 619, Glenn Building, 120 Marietta Street,
N.W., Atlanta.







ELSEWHERE...

BILLION DOLLAR PLANS for a rapid transit system are being devel-
oped for Seattle, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C, A Seattle study calls
for a 45-mile system at an eventual cost of $1.5 billion to build. Los An-
geles has a preliminary report calling for a 62-mile system priced at $1.5
billion, And Washington, D.C, is now building a 25-mile system, propos-
ing that it eventually be 95,3 miles with an eventual cost for the total
system of $2.3 billion. In addition, the $1.2 billion San Francisco system
is now under construction,

MEXICO CITY is well under way in construction of its new subway
system. Plans call for all 22 miles of its 3 lines to be in operation by 1970,

A NEW TYPE RAIL-BUS was demonstrated by Red Arrow Lines on
the Philadelphia and Western Railway between Bryn Mawr and Bridgeport.
The 49-seat diesel-powered bus has been equipped with retractable steel
wheels for travel on railways as well as highways. Merritt H. Taylor, Jr,
President of the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, the
parent firm of Red Arrow, said that if the bus tests out as expected, they

will be used to replace the company’s 50 trolleys and trains operating in

Delaware and Montgomery counties.



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Atlanta, Ga.
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30303

Mr. R. Earl Landers
Comptroller City of Atlanta
501 City Hall

Atlanta, Ga. 30303