T-SPLOST Referendum Will Make or Break Proposed Rail Line to Emory
Officials at Emory University say the approaching transportation referendum will make or break plans for a long-sought-after campus rail line.
For decades there’s been talk of a Clifton Corridor rail line that would connect MARTA to major employers like Emory and the Centers for Disease Control.
Betty Willis, a community affairs vice president with Emory, says employees and residents have struggled long enough with the area’s continuously jammed two-lane roads.
“We are the largest employment center in the metro area with no direct access to MARTA or the state interstate system so this would give us finally the ability to tie right into the MARTA system.”
In two weeks, metro Atlanta voters will have the chance to approve the full amount of funding – $700 million – for a brand new railway from MARTA’s Lindbergh Station to the heart of Emory’s campus.
It’s part of a $7 billion regional tax plan aimed at relieving traffic congestion and stimulating the local economy.
Willis sees the Clifton Corridor rail line as critical to Emory’s future. MARTA predicts 10,000 riders will use the line on a daily basis, which Willis says will do much to cut down on the area’s traffic issues.
In the event the referendum fails, Willis says the project will likely be put off for another generation.
“There’s simply not federal funds that are going to be available to any local communities who do not put some skin in the game. You have to have local matching funds in order to draw down federal funds.”
Critics of the project says the rail line is simply too expensive for the amount of drivers it would take off the road.
“There’s got to be something better – bus rapid transit or some other form – that is less costly but would carry as many people,” said Steve Brown of the Transportation Leadership Coalition, an anti-T-SPLOST group.
Recent polls show a majority of voters are currently against the T-SPLOST.
The referendum will be held July 31st.
