B E L T L I N E CORRIDOR ENVIRONMENT A L S T U D Y EXISTING CONDITIONS REPORT Prepared for: Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority and Atlanta BeltLine Inc. Prepared by: AECOM/JJG Joint Venture Atlanta, GA July 2009 General Planning Consultant Services RFP P5413 Contract No. 200703566 Work Order No. 2008-07 General Planning Consultant Services Existing Conditions Report Table of Contents SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................................... S-1 1.0 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 1-1 1.1 PROJECT OVERVIEW ............................................................................................. 1-1 2.0 STUDY AREA .................................................................................................................................... 2-1 2.1 STUDY AREA DEFINITION ...................................................................................... 2-1 2.2 STUDY AREA ZONES .............................................................................................. 2-1 3.0 SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS .................................................................................................. 3-1 3.1 POPULATION ............................................................................................................ 3-1 3.2 EMPLOYMENT ......................................................................................................... 3-5 3.3 HOUSEHOLDS .......................................................................................................... 3-6 3.4 LOW-INCOME POPULATION ................................................................................3-11 3.5 MINORITY POPULATION .......................................................................................3-11 3.6 TRANSIT-DEPENDENT POPULATIONS ..............................................................3-15 3.7 NEIGHBORHOODS ................................................................................................3-17 3.7.1 Northeast Zone Neighborhoods ...............................................................3-17 3.7.2 Northeast Zone Community Facilities ......................................................3-21 3.7.3 Southeast Zone Neighborhoods ..............................................................3-22 3.7.4 Southeast Zone Community Facilities .....................................................3-25 3.7.5 Southwest Zone Neighborhoods..............................................................3-26 3.7.6 Southwest Zone Community Facilities.....................................................3-28 3.7.7 Northwest Zone Neighborhoods ..............................................................3-28 3.7.8 Northwest Zone Community Facilities .....................................................3-33 3.8 LAND USE AND ZONING .......................................................................................3-34 3.8.1 Land Use ..................................................................................................3-34 3.8.2 Area Land Use Plans ...............................................................................3-41 3.8.3 Zoning .......................................................................................................3-41 3.9 PARKS .....................................................................................................................3-50 3.10 HISTORIC RESOURCES ........................................................................................3-55 3.10.1 Northeast Zone .........................................................................................3-57 3.10.2 Southeast Zone ........................................................................................3-57 3.10.3 Southwest Zone .......................................................................................3-58 3.10.4 Northwest Zone ........................................................................................3-58 4.0 NATURAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS .............................................................................. 4-1 4.1 WATER RESOURCES .............................................................................................. 4-1 4.1.1 Wetland Areas ............................................................................................ 4-1 BeltLine Corridor Environmental Study i July 2009 General Planning Consultant Services Existing Conditions Report 4.1.2 Floodplains ................................................................................................. 4-1 4.1.3 Water Bodies .............................................................................................. 4-1 4.1.4 Northeast Zone ........................................................................................... 4-4 4.1.5 Southeast Zone .......................................................................................... 4-4 4.1.6 Southwest Zone ......................................................................................... 4-5 4.1.7 Northwest Zone .......................................................................................... 4-6 4.2 PROTECTED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES ........................................................ 4-7 4.3 CONTAMINATED AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS .............................................. 4-8 4.4 NOISE ......................................................................................................................4-20 4.5 AIR QUALITY ..........................................................................................................4-21 5.0 TRANSPORTATION CONDITIONS ............................................................................................... 5-1 5.1 TRANSIT SERVICES ................................................................................................ 5-1 5.1.1 MARTA Rail Service .................................................................................. 5-1 5.1.2 MARTA Bus Routes ................................................................................... 5-2 5.1.3 Other Transit Service ...............................................................................5-10 5.1.4 Travel Patterns .........................................................................................5-10 5.2 ROADWAY SYSTEM ..............................................................................................5-11 5.2.1 Roadway and BeltLine Transit Intersections ...........................................5-11 5.2.2 Roadway Functional Classification and Capacity ....................................5-13 5.2.3 Roadway Traffic Volumes and Congestion .............................................5-13 5.3 PLANNED TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS ..............................5-28 5.4 FREIGHT RAIL CORRIDORS ................................................................................5-32 5.4.1 Decatur Belt Corridor ...............................................................................5-32 5.4.2 Atlanta and West Point Railroad (A&WP) BeltLine Corridor ...................5-33 5.4.3 Louisville & Nashville (L&N) BeltLine Corridor ........................................5-33 5.4.4 CSXT Northside Corridor .........................................................................5-34 6.0 BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN CONDITIONS ............................................................................... 6-1 6.1 BICYCLE ROUTES ................................................................................................... 6-1 6.2 PEDESTRIAN INFRASTRUCTURE ......................................................................... 6-5 6.3 MULTI-USE TRAILS ................................................................................................. 6-5 7.0 RELATED PLANS AND EFFORTS ................................................................................................ 7-1 7.1 ATLANTA BELTLINE SUBAREA MASTER PLANS ............................................... 7-1 7.2 CONNECT ATLANTA PLAN .................................................................................... 7-4 7.3 UPDATE OF MARKET FORECASTS FOR ATLANTA BELTLINE STUDY AREA 7-5 7.4 CONCEPT 3 .............................................................................................................. 7-6 7.5 2030 REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN (ENVISION6) .................................. 7-8 BeltLine Corridor Environmental Study ii July 2009 General Planning Consultant Services Existing Conditions Report 7.6 THE ARC ATLANTA REGION BICYCLE TRANSPORTATION AND PEDESTRIAN WALKWAYS PLAN .................................................................................................... 7-9 7.7 ATLANTA BELTLINE HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT ...................................... 7-9 7.8 BELTLINE DETAILED SCREENING ANALYSIS ..................................................7-10 7.9 ATLANTA BELTLINE REDEVELOPMENT PLAN ................................................7-12 7.10 THE ATLANTA BELTLINE: TRANSIT FEASIBILITY WHITE PAPER .................7-14 7.11 INNER CORE TRANSIT FEASIBILITY STUDY .....................................................7-14 7.12 THE BELTLINE EMERALD NECKLACE: ATLANTA’S NEW PUBLIC REALM..7-15 7.13 RECONNECTING COMMUNITIES, ATLANTA RAIL CORRIDORS ASSESSMENT ..................................................................................................................................7-16