MARTA advances bus rapid transit plan at Campbellton corridor

MARTA Board of Directors voted to advance center-running bus rapid transit, or BRT, as the “locally preferred alternative” for Campbellton Road, as part of an overall $300 million dollar transit and infrastructure investment in southwest Atlanta.

“This will be a gold standard BRT system, complete with stations, platform-level entry at both doors, and dedicated lanes, very much like a rail system, but at a lower cost and with a faster construction completion time,” MARTA Interim General Manager and CEO Collie Greenwood said in a statement. “Center-running BRT also allows us to invest more money in the corridor with pedestrian and cycling amenities and infrastructure features that benefit the entire community.”

The goal is to begin operating center-running BRT on Campbellton Road in 2028.

The BRT will travel for six miles down Campbellton Road, connecting key destinations such as Oakland City Station, the new Greenbriar transit hub, and the Barge Road park-and-ride, with nine planned stations along the route. Center-running BRT is as it sounds, a rapid high-capacity transit system that operates in dedicated lanes down the center of the road and will reduce the transit travel time along Campbellton Road to 18 minutes, 35 percent faster than the current Route 83. Other proposed BRT amenities include off board fare payment similar to the train, level boarding platforms, electric BRT vehicles, and transit signal priority to improve travel times and reliability.

Campbellton Road rapid transit was adopted as part of the More MARTA Atlanta Program in 2018. Since the fall of 2019, MARTA has conducted an in-depth analysis of the corridor and outreach to the community.

The community and stakeholder engagement included in-person, virtual, town hall, and roundtable-style meetings, open houses, neighborhood and systemwide canvassing and surveys, informational visits to community and senior centers, libraries, and schools, and a bus tour of the proposed route. Close to half of those surveyed preferred BRT, with 90 percent of respondents mentioning the need for infrastructure improvements and better access for cyclists and pedestrians along the corridor.

“We did hear from some who see BRT as an inferior investment and are concerned that transit-oriented development won’t be as robust. That is simply not true. BRT is a premium transit service that can be delivered faster, for less money, operate more affordably, and is much more flexible than fixed rail transit, making it the clear choice for this corridor and the best use of taxpayer money,” MARTA Board Chair Rita Scott said in a statement. “And I’m confident as this project comes to fruition, the people who live and work in this corridor will agree.”

The project will be paid for through the More MARTA Atlanta half-penny sales tax, but additional federal funding will be critical to filling in the gaps.