Two years ago in March, at the annual State of the City address, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced what would be the largest expansion to MARTA’s train network in decades: four new infill stations.
The new MARTA hubs would sit between existing stops to increase connections for riders. In April, the city announced through executive order the intention of building the new locations at the Murphy Crossing development, Krog Street/Hulsey Yard, Joseph E. Boone and Armour Yards.
But a recent project estimate from the city shows that all four come with a price tag of more than $1.3 billion combined. The original funding stream floated was the $2.7 billion More MARTA bond program.
Recently, funding for the stations was included on a list of projects that could potentially receive dollars from an extension of the eight Tax Allocation Districts set to expire in 2030. It’s a controversial proposal being pushed by the Dickens’ administration as necessary to dedicate funds to revitalizing underserved areas of the city.
On that list, a Krog Street station came with the highest price tag of $552 million, followed by $453 million for Murphy’s Crossing, $184 million for Armour Yards and $151 million for Joseph E. Boone — a combined total of $1.3 billion.
The TAD extensions come with the possibility of raising more than $5 billion — meaning the two revenue streams combined could potentially fund the new stations.
The mayor’s office hopes for around $729 million in TAD revenue from the extensions to help pay for the station construction — a little more than 54% of the total cost. Another $40 million line item is dedicated to transit-oriented development around those locations.
But even that plan comes with a large dose of uncertainty, and the fate of MARTA train station expansion is very much up in the air.
Realizing the entire $5 billion from TAD extensions requires sign-off from Atlanta City Council, Fulton County government and Atlanta Public Schools. None has committed to the vision.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial board last week, MARTA Interim General Manager and CEO Jonathan Hunt said the station construction isn’t dependent on the tax district extensions.
“The infill stations have always been on the More MARTA project list,” he said. “We are sitting with the city and working with them through the reprioritization process to make sure that we are deploying dollars on the More MARTA program in a manner that maximizes the transit benefit, and is what these communities want.”
“Within MARTA, within our little sandbox, we can’t be thinking about its codependent on TAD,” he added.
Atlanta voters approved the More MARTA sales tax in 2016. Leading up to the vote, a list of 73 potential projects was floated, with the understanding that there wouldn’t be funding for all.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
In 2018, MARTA approved a list of 17 projects to be prioritized for More MARTA funding — and the new stations were not on that list.
Including the stations would jeopardize other projects currently deemed a higher priority.
The priority list includes bus rapid transit lines, arterial rapid transit routes and the Atlanta Streetcar extension, which would bring light rail to and alongside the Beltline.
Rising construction costs made it clear as early as 2022 that sales tax revenue might not cover even the smaller list of projects.
Hunt didn’t say which projects could be bumped to incorporate new stations or when city and MARTA officials would make a final decision.
“I can’t go into those right now,” he said. “It’s not falling off, it’s reprioritizing (projects).”
No matter what happens, the process will likely face criticism. And the More MARTA program has already put the transit agency at odds with the Dickens administration.
A 2024 city audit found that MARTA owes Atlanta taxpayers as much as $70 million after overcharging the Atlanta expansion program for bus and other operational services. The figure is contested by MARTA and its own auditors, which found the capital fund had been shortchanged by only $865,000.
It’s just one example of where the agency has butted heads with city leadership.
Hunt moved into the interim role this year after the abrupt departure of Collie Greenwood, the former agency head who had clashed with both the mayor’s office and Atlanta City Council.
Hunt said he’s working to rebuild trust with city officials — which, he recognized, takes time. And that MARTA’s goals are aligned with the mayor’s overall transit vision.
“But that doesn’t mean that we won’t have issues down the road ... where we may grate on each other, or we may disagree,” Hunt told the AJC. “But knowing you have that level of trust and transparency makes it a whole lot easier to have a difficult conversation.”
---
A friendly reminder you can sigh up to get the AJC’'s Inside City Hall newsletter directly to your inbox by visiting https://www.ajc.com/newsletters/Riley-Bunch-columnist/.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
