Atlanta: Downtown Green Line

[Trae]

This thing looks amazing. Though just a vision for now, it will really help out Downtown. I remember discussing replacing Five Points' ugly cement into a plaza of some kind. This plan includes that, and a lot more:

Bold park plan unveiled for downtown's 'gulch'

Linear park would link area of Philips Arena to GSU

By MARIA SAPORTA, KEVIN DUFFY

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 12/12/07

An ambitious new vision for an oft-forgotten stretch of downtown would create a linear park ringed by pedestrian-friendly development, stretching from the state Capitol area to Philips Arena.

The conceptual plan, unveiled Wednesday by Central Atlanta Progress, envisions massive commercial development near Philips and CNN Center on the west end of the 94-acre area, an overhaul of the Five Points MARTA station in the middle and new Georgia State student housing on the east, all connected by greenspace and walkways.

But it is only a vision — and one that would require actions by a host of public and private entities to become reality. Some elements, such as multimodal transportation center for commuter trains and buses, have long been on planners' drawing boards without going very far.

Highlights of the so-called "Green Line" plan, which was presented to CAP's board Wednesday morning, include:

• MARTA's headquarters moving next to its hub station at Five Points
  
• Removing the above-ground structure of the Five Points station and replacing it with a public plaza
  
• Building 5,000 student housing units just north of Underground Atlanta for Georgia State students
  
• Developing the multimodal station next to a new MARTA headquarters building as a connecting point for commuter trains, regional and intercity buses
  
• Creating a new street grid over the area now known as the railroad gulch that would carve out a dozen development sites for office and retail space near CNN Center and Centennial Olympic Park
  
• Redeveloping the street-level portion of Underground Atlanta to add larger buildings that would mix office and retail uses.
  
• Connecting the entire three-quarters of a mile corridor with 15 acres of green space and public plazas.
  

More here: http://www.ajc.com/business/content/busine...gulch_1213.html

Downtown's Green Line Vision:

Link to full size map.

Link to summary of the plan PDF Version

The multimodal plan (a bus depot will be at the concourse level; one level below the viaducts):

The commuter rail platforms (plus an Amtrak platform) are at ground level:

Edited December 19, 2007 by Trae

[Chris]

That is Amazing.

[editor]

I'm glad to see them doing something with that area. It needs a little help. That CNN Center MARTA stop is rediculous -- you have to walk what feels like a half mile before you get to anything. And in the middle of the night it's desolate.

[ssullivan]

Yeah, this will definitely help that part of downtown Atlanta.