Staying excited about Beltline rail
With the population of the City of Atlanta growing, and with our need for affordable housing rising, both rail and infill density are increasingly important for the Atlanta Beltline.

I’m going to sound like an awful person here: the laying down of pavement on new portions of the Beltline is losing some luster for me. I still enjoy many, many things about the multi-use trail, but it’s not as exciting as it used to be to see newly-paved segments. And that’s entirely because of how much I’m looking forward some tracks go into the ground for transit, and seeing new pedestrian and bike infrastructure on connective streets, so that people can safely reach that rail.
One of the great things the Beltline has show us, through its famous weekend crowds, is that Atlantans want to get out and walk and ride bikes. Despite the heat and humidity, people here are hungry for active transportation. Increasing the number of safe, inviting outlets on surface streets to serve that hunger will be the next logical step for the city to take (thankfully there are some good complete-streets projects in line through the Renew ATL plan, but we can do even more in terms of good connections to the Beltline).
The plans and the funds for Beltline rail
In 2016, City of Atlanta voters OK’d an additional half penny in sales tax revenue for MARTA, to go entirely to intown transit. It’ll generate approximately $2.5 billion for transit enhancements over 40 years, not including any federal matching dollars that might come along. The transit agency is currently wrapping up an impressively thorough public engagement process regarding the projects that will be funded.
Here’s a peek at what was established a couple of years ago as the first phase of rail for the Beltline and connective crosstown routes:

This addition of rail doesn’t mean the Beltline loses its multiuse path, by the way. The right-of-way is intentionally wide enough for both that and rail.
You might think, “why do we need rail? Isn’t a multi-use trail enough?” In an interview last year, Beltline mastermind Ryan Gravel talked about how essential transit is for the inclusiveness of the project as a transportation route:
“How vital is transit to the BeltLine? It’s essential. If we get all this development and we don’t protect transit, everybody’s going to be stuck in traffic. Biking and walking is great, as long as you’re able-bodied, as long as it’s not raining or snowing or 100 degrees outside, as long as you don’t have to carry anything. There are all kinds of reasons why the existing trail doesn’t solve the need.”
Be YIMBYs (Yes In My BackYard) on affordability, density, rail
I’ll admit that I’m slightly concerned about Atlanta’s ability to allow a rail-appropriate level of infill density into the neighborhoods abutting the Beltline. Building this transit infrastructure is going to be extremely expensive and we’ll need to get a return on that investment by making sure there are plenty of places where land use matches the high capacity of trains.
But I feel mostly optimistic on the matter, because it seems like the population growth intown (the city grew by about 17,000 people in the last two years) is going to help lend a qualifying voice to the argument for sensitive infill.
Another concern — a huge one — is housing affordability. Just like it’s important for us to build rail so that the benefits of the transportation component are equitably distributed, it’s also important for us to make sure that people across the income/wealth spectrum are able to live in walking or cycling distance to the Beltline. The newly-appointed CEO, Brian McGowan, seems to be on board with stepping up the delivery of affordable housing, so that’s promising — as evidenced by this recent quote from him:
“The BeltLine was originally intended to be a catalyst in a city that was racially and economically divided. I see the BeltLine as an opportunity to address issues like economic inequality and economic mobility. Those I believe are Atlanta’s biggest problems. They are problems in almost every major city in America.The difference is that other cities don’t have an opportunity like the BeltLine. It can be a catalyst to address income inequality in the city.”
There will be neighborhood battles on the addition of rail and affordable housing. Advocates need to expect it and prepare for it. Some people will opposed both of those things coming into their neighborhoods. If you can stomach it, the comments on this AJC article show some of the harsh and frankly vile language people use to oppose the addition of affordable housing units near intown homes. And on the rail front, Reason.org lobbed a volley at Beltline rail last year that echoes the “new rail in Atlanta is a boondoggle” sentiments I’ve heard and read elsewhere.
But Atlantans are capable of having respectful, informed conversations on the topic and I trust that the right things will happen for the city at large if we’re sympathetic.
Long term, this should not be an attraction
Atlanta’s mayor referred to the Beltline as an “attraction” at a public event this week. I get that it’ll be that way largely at first, because of its new-ness and because of how (unfortunately) unique it is to have safe and inviting places to walk and ride a bike across city neighborhoods. Despite the fact that there are already people using it as transportation to get to groceries and more, there’s definitely an attraction-ish aspect.
But if it becomes an attraction or a recreational destination for most users in the long term, instead of serving mostly as an essential piece of transportation infrastructure for Atlantans, we’ve done it wrong. And given the scale of the route, rail is what will make this truly essential in an inclusive way that enables all types of people to take advantage of this new way of building transportation (and more) in the city.
