Is abandoning the downtown streetcar to focus on building light rail around the 22-mile Beltline loop the right way forward for the city of Atlanta? No, it is not.

The downtown streetcar was always intended to be extended both east and west to provide connectivity to activity centers and MARTA stations. There’s no question the existing streetcar has shortcomings but they can be fixed. 

The first segment of Beltline rail, Streetcar East Extension (SCE), and the downtown streetcar have a symbiotic relationship. Linking the downtown streetcar to Beltline rail connects the streetcar to something – the fast-growing and dense Eastside Trail, which has quickly become one of Atlanta’s opportunity zones, a vital business and entertainment destination. Connecting the two also provides a link from downtown, which is experiencing a renaissance with Centennial Yards coming online and South downtown positioned to blossom, to the Eastside Trail. 

And then there’s this oft-overlooked fact – SCE, which will connect the downtown streetcar to the Eastside Trail with light rail continuing from Krog Street Market to Ponce City Market – includes a MARTA station as part of its route. Namely Peachtree Center Station. 

This is no small thing as having a MARTA station as part of the first segment of Beltline light rail provides anyone, anywhere with a connection to all of MARTA’s destinations and access to all points along the Eastside Trail.

There are other reasons to keep and connect the downtown streetcar to Beltline rail. First of all, abandoning the existing streetcar would almost certainly mean the city of Atlanta would have to pay back the Federal Transit Administration the $37 million balance of the Tiger grant it received to build the downtown streetcar.

It would also mean the city of Atlanta giving up on a key asset for the 22-mile Beltline light rail loop project – the vehicle maintenance facility (VMF) that sits beneath the downtown connector between Edgewood and Auburn Avenues and will be used to house and power a fleet of Beltline rail vehicles. A new VMF built elsewhere could cost more than $100 million.

The details matter. SCE is ready to start now. 

Starting the project on the Eastside Trail, with the downtown streetcar connected to this first segment, gives the full project, 22 miles of light rail, the best chance to be successful. The vision is the rest of Beltline rail will follow SCE, segment by segment. But that can only happen after a proof of concept, and the Eastside Trail, because of its density, is best positioned to be that successful proof of concept.

Starting anywhere else will mean there will be no Beltline rail in this decade.

Here’s an idea. Instead of abandoning the downtown streetcar, let’s shut it down for a year and fix it. Light signalization, adding a stop in front of Georgia State’s Rialto Theatre, and more dedicated right of way. The whole shebang.

The timing of a one-year shutdown to fix the streetcar works as SCE construction – Krog Street to PCM – is scheduled to start in 2025 and be completed in 2028. Starting track construction on the 1.4-mile stretch along the Beltline and fixing the downtown streetcar can happen concurrently without delaying the project finish date.

Let’s do this right and move forward with the plan in place with the downtown streetcar fix as an essential component. Beltline rail is too important to this city. Atlantans deserve to have options outside of getting into a car to slog along in this city’s already clogged surface streets and interstates. 

The danger of shortcutting and ignoring key details is Beltline rail might not happen at all.

If you agree, email Mayor Dickens to expedite the construction of Beltline rail.