Reconnecting Communities: Atlanta Rail Corridors Assessment
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Reconnecting Communities: Atlanta Rail Corridors Assessment PREPARED BY RAILS-TO-TRAILS CONSERVANCY FOR THE A RTHUR M. BLANK FAMILY FOUNDATION AND THE T URNER FOUNDATION INC. PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS Jeffrey Ciabotti Hugh Morris Darren Smith Brian Yourish MISSION: The purpose of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is to enrich America’s communities and countryside by creating a nationwide network of public trails from former rail lines and connecting corridors. This report was made possible by generous grants from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and the Turner Foundation Inc. Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and our many Georgia partners extend our gratitude for the foundations’ support and vision to create a regional transit greenway system that will reconnect communities with parks and open space, walking and bicycling facilities, mass transit and cultural and historical resources. SPECIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy would like to recognize the work of several individuals that greatly enhanced the accuracy and utility of this report: Members of the Project Advisory Committee, Andrea Ferster, RTC general counsel, Barbara Richey, RTC graphic designer and Jennifer Simmons, RTC editor. Reconnecting Communities Atlanta Rail Corridors Assessment FINAL REPORT April 2004 TRAILDART TRAIL DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE RESPONSE TEAM A Service of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ......................................................................................................................................... 1 Project Goals .................................................................................................................................. 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 2 Overview — Atlanta Metropolitan Area .................................................................................... 2 Railroad History ....................................................................................................................... 2 The Value of Rail-Trails ............................................................................................................. 3 Technical Methodology ............................................................................................................ 4 Phase I — Inventory Phase II — Assessment GIS Base Maps Appendix Phase I: Comprehensive Inventory ICC and STB research, Inventory of Related Cultural and Natural Resources ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Concurrent Studies and Projects in Atlanta Metro Region — Implications for Study Corridors .... 6 Phase II: Assessment of Inventoried Corridors Assessment of Abandoned Rail Corridors and Potential Shared Use Corridors (including: inventory — corridor evaluation, ownership and land use analysis, alternatives analysis GIS maps and photo inventory) ........................................................................ 7 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 7 Regional Index Map ................................................................................................................. 8 Corridor Segment 1: Map — Inventory — Assessment ................................................................ 9 Corridor Segment 2: Map — Inventory — Assessment .............................................................. 12 Corridor Segment 3: Map — Inventory — Assessment .............................................................. 16 Corridor Segment 4: Map — Inventory — Assessment .............................................................. 19 Corridor Segment 5: Map — Inventory — Assessment .............................................................. 22 Proposed Regional System ..................................................................................................... 24 Challenge Areas — Potential Trail System Connectors .............................................................. 24 Challenge Area A: Map — Analysis ......................................................................................... 25 Challenge Area B: Map — Analysis ......................................................................................... 27 Challenge Area C: Map — Analysis ......................................................................................... 29 Challenge Area D: Map — Analysis ......................................................................................... 31 Project Advisory Committee ................................................................................................... 33 Strategies for Implementation ................................................................................................. 33 Appendices Appendix A: Atlanta Photo Inventory ..................................................................................... 36 Regional Index Map with Photo Locators ............................................................................... 37 Appendix B: Concurrent Studies and Projects — Implications for Study Corridors .................... 54 Appendix C: Legal Analysis of Georgia Railroad Law and Shared-Use Corridor Issues .............. 67 Appendix D: Funding and Support Sources for Trails and Greenways ...................................... 72 Appendix E: Rail-with-Trail Report — Executive Summary ......................................................... 77 Appendix G: Advisory Board List ............................................................................................ 78 Appendix H: Georgia Rail-Trail Inventory — Open and Project Status ...................................... 79 Appendix I: About Rail-to-Trails Conservancy .......................................................................... 80 PREFACE PROJECT GOALS: • Provide a comprehensive inventory and assessment of inactive railroad corridors in the Atlanta Metropolitan region • Identify corridors best suited for rail-to-trail and rail-with-trail conversion • Develop the study as a vehicle to encourage and promote local organizations and public agencies to pursue trail development INTRODUCTION OVERVIEW OF THE ATLANTA METROPOLITAN AREA Atlanta is often identified with its major air transportation hub and automobile-oriented culture. This association is only fitting, since antebellum Atlanta quickly grew from a frontier outpost to a bustling city largely due to the rise of transportation. From old Indian trails to ferries to railroads, Atlanta’s early his- tory is intertwined with the movement of people and goods. In 1837 the Western and Atlantic Railroad, a state-sponsored project, established a town at the termina- tion point for the railroad, calling that location Terminus. In 1845 this town, located eight miles south of the Chattahoochee River, was incorporated as Atlanta. An interesting bit of history — the Western and Atlantic Railroad Zero Milepost — can be seen just north of Underground Atlanta, a shopping and enter- tainment area. Today Atlanta once again looks to its past as a railroad oriented town with proposals such as the in-town transit greenway known as the BeltLine, a smart growth idea that seeks to connect historic Atlanta neighborhoods. The BeltLine would use under-utilized and abandoned urban railroad corridors to create a new transit line to serve Atlanta’s intown neighborhoods. Bicycle and pedestrian paths would follow the 22-mile loop, creating a beautiful linear park and connecting over 40 historic Atlanta neighborhoods and five Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) stations. RAILROAD HISTORY — ATLANTA Atlanta was created by the stake of a railroad surveyor and later named by a railroad official. Staked on a ridge separating Atlantic and Gulf drainage, today it is the largest United States city that is not a river or ocean port. The creation of Atlanta began officially in 1837. Stephen A. Long, the Western and Atlantic Railroad (W&ARR) chief engineer, approved a location on Mr. Hardy Ivy’s property for a terminus of the rail line. The site was designated the point where the W&ARR and Georgia Railroad would meet. As a result, the terminus was joined with Montgomery’s Ferry, Walton and Whitehall—all crucial points that form the nucleus of Atlanta today. Both railroads pushed ahead with construction out from the center. 2 The name Terminus did not last; before December 1843, when incorporated as a town, it was changed to Marthasville to honor the daughter of Wilson Lumpkin, the former Governor who had supported the initiation of the State-owned Western & Atlantic Railroad (W&A) and who had participated in the pre- liminary surveys of the 1820’s. That name was short-lived; a railroad superintendent sought a newer, briefer name. His boss, the chief engineer of the Georgia Railroad, provided Atlanta as a feminized ver- sion of Atlantic from the W&A. However, Lumpkin always maintained that the city had been twice- named after his daughter as her middle name was Atalanta. A third rail line, linking Macon and Atlanta joined the other two in 1846. By 1850 numerous rail lines were entering the city and its population grew rapidly. It quickly became a transportation hub for travel- ers and goods. During the Civil War Atlanta saw prosperity until the end — serving as a supplier of food and troops. After the war new lines