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Community Corner

Meeting Notice: MARTA Connect 400 Project

As part
of its ongoing efforts to examine potential options to extend high-capacity
transit in the Georgia 400 corridor, MARTA will be meeting with homeowners
along the corridor at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 12, 2014 at the Dunwoody
Community Church, located at Dunwoody Club Rd. / Mt. Vernon to get their input.



The
Georgia 400 Transit Initiative, or Connect 400, began in late 2011, and is
looking at bus rapid transit, light rail and heavy rail options to expand
service from MARTA's existing North Springs station to the Windward Parkway
area.   



MARTA
is excited about the opportunity to hear from the community and welcomes input
from all stakeholders in the project. The project is still in the early
planning stage and no decisions have been made regarding a preferred
alternative or the exact location of transit stations. Once a preferred
alternative is identified, the project will have to undergo an environmental
review, preliminary engineering and final design before construction can begin.

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Last
fall MARTA, completed an initial public involvement period, “Early Scoping –
Phase I”, to gather feedback on the conceptual alternatives under consideration
for transit expansion as part of the federal process. Since then, MARTA has
conducted a robust and statistically sound public opinion survey working with
Kennesaw State University.  The survey
has revealed that approximately three quarters of residents, employees, and
students near the GA 400 Corridor support transit expansion.



Additionally,
MARTA is also working with the Atlanta Regional Commission to assess the
economic impacts of high-capacity transit expansion along Georgia 400. Initial
findings demonstrate this expansion will create jobs, increase GDP and improve
the overall economy in Fulton County, the Atlanta metropolitan regional and the
state of Georgia.

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This
summer, MARTA will continue to partner with private, local, state and federal
entities to conduct a second round of public meetings in late June and July as
part of its  “Early Scoping – Phase II”
efforts.” These sessions are vital to the project as the stakeholder and
community input gathered will help MARTA determine a “locally preferred
alternative” that can advance through the federal project development process
and compete for federal funds.



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