Politics & Government

MARTA Considers Extending North Line to Alpharetta

Alpharetta would get four transit stations and Roswell one in the preferred plan of those surveyed in the transit agency's Connect 400 program.

MARTA's Connect 400 program has plans to extend its North Line up to Windward Parkway, adding four transit stations in Alpharetta and three others between Alpharetta and the North Springs Station.

The majority of a small sample of people preferred bringing MARTA's heavy rail line north from North Springs into Alpharetta, adding four transit stations in the city.

The preferred plan of the fewer than 140 people who started MARTA's survey want MARTA to use the GA 400 right of way to extend the rail line to have the least effect on land along the way.

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Alpharetta City Councilman Jim Gilvin just wished MARTA officials had bothered to contact the city about its proposals, rather than hearing about it in a Tweet about a story from Appen Newspaper's Jonathan Copsey. Gilvin used this week's City Council meeting to pass on to MARTA's new general manager, Keith Parker, that the Mayor and the rest of City Council can be found on most Monday nights at City Hall.

Not all of the stations would necessarily be built and it would take 10-15 years to extend the North Line, Project Manager Jason Morgan told Copsey.

Find out what's happening in Alpharetta-Miltonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Fewer people took part in MARTA's online survey than participated in the city's own survey about Main Street in Alpharetta. Out of the 136 people who started the MARTA survey, 119 completed it. Of those people, 82 percent favored what's known as the 1A plan, which favors heavy rail and transit stations reaching Windward Parkway.

MARTA made its presentation a few weeks ago in Roswell at a public meeting.

Proposed Transit Stations

4 in Alpharetta

  • Mansell Road
  • North Point Mall
  • Haynes Bridge Road
  • Windward Parkway

1 in Roswell

  • Holcomb Bridge Road

2 more in Sandy Springs

  • Spalding Drive
  • Northridge Road

Alpharetta's Main Street survey had nearly 600 people adding comments online and 150 taking part in two interactive public meetings. And this was for a section of roadway between Windward Parkway and Old Milton Parkway, a project that will be much less expensive than the billions of dollars necessary to extend the rail line.

MARTA had its electronic survey open from Dec. 12, 2012 to Jan. 17, 2013, managing to schedule it during the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

The next step will be public outreach this summer. Financing and implementation of the plan would have to be decided before it could proceed, and the MARTA board would have to approve it.

Find out more about the plan at MARTA's website.

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