The Georgia DOT has applied for a $22.5 million grant for the construction of a new Amtrak station at  the intersection of 17th Street and Northside Drive, near Atlantic Station.

Creative Loafing reported that the estimated cost of building the new facility would be approximately $39 million. Georgia DOT and Amtrak would provide the remaining funds in cash and the value of the land.

The Amtrak station in Brookwood opened in 1918 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately a building doesn’t make it to that age without showing some wear. The parking lot in front of the building was closed to cars last month because GDOT  determined that the structure supporting it wasn’t sound enough to safely handle the weight load any more.

Although a new multi-modal transit station is planned for downtown near MARTA’s Five Points Station, completion of that project is likely to be at least a decade away. In the meantime, the state says that the small Brookwood station has already seen a 16 percent increase in passengers since 2009.

What do you think? Should the DOT, if possible hold onto any grant money they’re awarded to use for the construction of the MMPT, or to fix the existing station? Or is a new Amtrak facility important enough to make the investment now?

MARTA

Tomorrow, March 24, MARTA is holding three public hearings   – two in Atlanta and one in Decatur – to gather input on bus route changes as well as tenative plans to revive the Braves Shuttle. The shuttle, which usually runs from Five Points Station to Turner Field on Atlanta Braves game days, was axed during last fall’s service cuts. Bus routes affected by the proposed changes are:

• Route 2 – Ponce de Leon Avenue/Moreland Avenue
• Route 87 – Roswell Road/Morgan Falls
• Route 99 – Boulevard/Monroe Drive
• Route 181 – Buffington Road/South Fulton Park & Ride

Here’s a map (PDF) detailing the proposed changes to routes 2 and 99. Here’s one for routes 87 and 181. The service changes, if they’re adopted will go into effect June 18.

GDOT

Next week, on March 30, the Georgia Department of Transportation is holding a hearing for public input regarding the Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal (PDF) project that’s planned for the downtown “gulch” area. GDOT announced last week that it had selected a development team led by Cousins Properties to build the potentially transformative transit project, but proposal summaries from all three of the short-listed development teams are still on the GDOT site.

If you can’t make it to the meeting, use the online comment form.

ARC

Still not enough civic engagement for you? The Atlanta Regional Commission is inviting metro Atlantans to an “online public meeting” to offer opinions on draft transportation recommendations  for “Plan2040,” the agency’s plan to “accommodate economic and population growth sustainability over the next 30 years.”  The online meeting is open until April 30.