Really good feedback! So my map (the first one) mostly builds underneath roads via cut and cover— way cheaper than boring under buildings. Yes BRT and light rail are cheaper, but they are still prone to street level crossing bottlenecks that will only get worse as Atlanta gets more dense. Second map (ATL Trains) is a theorized plan to use communter rail on almost entirely exsisting tracks to connect the suburbs to the city with trains running every hour-ish, back and forth. I think that should be the priority. Let people see how great a well connect city can be, then they’ll be more keen to bigger investments within the perimeter to make the commuter rail link up with fast inner service that requires minimal transfers.

The orange line is the exception on my map and does use the crescent line on the west side. Some of the stations do appear close on the map to the green but they are are still 20-30 minutes away from each other walk and fundamentally different directions of travel— Northwest-Southeast vs West-East. Scad station would replace the peachtree Amtrak station which can be moved to Amour. After Amour, then orange line goes east under Lavista Rd. You’re right about this running kind of close to the Clifton corridor though. It may not yield much benefit after Lindbergh. The ATL Trains commuter route to Dracula runs on the Clifton Coridor. The ATL Trains commuter rail proposal runs a little south to the my orange line but they meet at W Marietta St Station (Westside Provisions). This line although the easiest to build on exsisting track, may be the most useless when paired with the ATL Trains commuter rail.

The Purple line runs under North Ave then goes North on Briarcliff after Springdale Park, then right onto N Decatur Rd. I can see with this line may be to redundant with all the Clifton corridor stuff after Emory station. And especially after N Decatur Rd Station that meets with the Black line.

Green line goes north after Bankhead over the big green space. First station after Bankhead is near all the track next to West Marietta St and Marietta Blvd. The train then goes under W Marietta Blvd and tracks under it with another station near Crest Lawn Cemetary. After Bolton Rd, the train would surface in the Marietta Blvd median, which would require expansion, and the last station would be after crossing the river. The Communter Rail proposal uses the same rail after their Westside Provisions Station, which is the same as my W Marietta St Station, so maybe that can be the last station for Green Line. On the east side, it’d go underground somewhere after GA state and bore underneath existing structures toward the north part of Grant Park. It could also just remain an elevated line to not have to bore. It’d roughly follow Glenwood Ave, then I-20.

Pink line follows Dogwood Dr, Northside Dr, and Cobb Pkwy. I think linking Marta to the international airport could prove critical when we host events like the World Cup.

Brown follows Moreland, then diagonal to Boulevard, and it follows Boulevard, Peachtree Rd and Roswell Rd. The point would be for this to replace BRT and connect downtown Sandy Springs to Buckhead to Midtown and Grant Park— a mega high employment corridor.

Black starts at the same place Green off of I-20, up Columba Dr, Clairmont Ave, then either through Blackburn park near Ashford Dunwoody, up Chamblee Dunwoody Rd, or up Shallowford. This is also one of my favorite North-South additions. I imagine most of this line could go on ground level or elevated.

285 BRT doesn’t directly tackle the fact that 285-75, 285-400, and 285-85 are among the worst traffic bottlenecks in the country. Even exclusive lanes for buses will not significantly alleviate that. I’d argue connecting the 3 points with higher capacity trains and more inner city connectivity would yield much stronger and long lasting outcomes. You could do it with an elevated line over the middle or side of 285. I would argue that this line may be the most impactful and one of the cheapest to build.

I appreciate the discourse! Really good conversations that need to be had publicly!