By Maria Saporta
MARTA currently is planning to spend $259.4 million to rebuild the downtown Five Points station with more than $200 million coming out of the limited More MARTA revenue.
But key stakeholders are describing the redesign as “mediocre,” prioritizing buses rather than creating a lively, pedestrian-oriented downtown place that serves as MARTA’s crossroads for its east-west, north-south rail lines.
Former Atlanta Planning Commissioner Tim Keane, now planning director in Boise, Idaho, wasted few words about the proposed redesign.
“It’s horrific,” Keane said in a telephone interview on Sunday. “What’s being proposed for the Five Points MARTA Station right now should not be built. It’s better to do nothing than to do what MARTA is proposing.”
A rendering of the current proposal to redesign MARTA Five Points Station. (Special: MARTA.)
Keane is not alone in his criticism of the proposed redesign for the Five Points MARTA station.
A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress, sent a letter to Collie Greenwood, MARTA’s general manager on March 7, copying a host of city officials and MARTA board members, explicitly stating that “we are not supportive of the design that is currently being circulated.”
Also, Atlanta City Councilmembers Amir Farokhi and Jason Dozier sent a letter to Greenwood and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, voicing concerns with the proposed design because it is prioritizing buses rather than pedestrians.
“The design has seven on-street bus bays (four on Alabama Street and three on Forsyth Street),” the letter stated. “These on-street bus bays threaten the overall vibrancy and pedestrian-orientation of the area.”
In separate interviews with Robinson, Farokhi and Dozier, they each expressed that they continue to have concerns despite various communications with MARTA officials.
Another rendering of the proposed Five Points MARTA Station redesign. (Special: MARTA.)
Dozier did say that after…
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