| 2017 |
During a MARTA trip to Los Angeles, then-City Council Transportation Committee Chair Andre Dickens rode light rail. MARTA General Manager Jeff Parker had taken a group of elected Atlanta elected officials on the trip in an effort to persuade them to drop Beltline rail in favor of bus rapid transit (BRT). After riding light rail, Dickens concluded and publicly stated that light rail is what we need on the Beltline, consistent with the city’s existing plans. |
| 2018 |
Atlanta Beltline Inc convenes a 50-person task force that re-affirmed 2 prior studies’ conclusions that light rail-rail streetcar is the preferred transit mode for Beltline transit and the need to build it was urgent. |
| 2021 |
Dickens runs for Mayor. He campaigns as Atlanta’s first “Transportation Mayor”, citing Beltline rail as a project he would push MARTA to advance if elected. |
| 2021-12-01 |
Dickens wins the election in a runoff. |
| 2021-12-01 |
Mayor-elect Dickens addresses Beltline Rail Now and reaffirms his commitment to Beltline rail. |
| 2022-01-01 |
In his inaugural address, Mayor Dickens specifically commits to opening Beltline rail during his term and completing it by 2030. |
| 2022-06-01 |
Consultants Kimley-Horn complete the 30% design for Streetcar East. |
| 2023-01-01 |
Behind the scenes, the Mayor’s representatives on the Program Governance Committee (PGC) advance the Streetcar East Extension, which includes the first 1.4 miles of Beltline Rail, as a top priority. |
| 2023-02-01 |
The PGC votes to advance a recommendation to enter final design and build the Streetcar East Extension to the MARTA Board. |
| 2023-04-01 |
With the support of the Dickens administration, MARTA identifies 8 Tier 1 and 9 Tier II project lists for More MARTA, with the Streetcar East Extension being in Tier I. |
| 2023-07-01 |
The MARTA Board votes unanimously to advance the Streetcar East Extension to final design and awards HDR $11.5 million to get the project ready to build. |
| 2023-08-01 |
A group of influential Atlanta Eastside residents, developers, and restaurateurs meet with Mayor Dickens, urging him to backtrack on the Streetcar East Extension. |
| 2023-09-01 |
At the annual State of The Beltline Breakfast, Atlanta Beltline Inc. CEO Clyde Higgs and Mayor Dickens are visibly out of sync. Higgs unveils plans to move forward with light rail running on grass tracks, illustrated with super-sized renderings. Yet, in his keynote address, Mayor Dickens says a variety of options for Beltline transit will be investigated. He does not name advancing light rail on the Beltline two months earlier as a leadership victory or mention the project’s advancement toward implementation as imminent. |
| 2023-10-01 |
Better Atlanta Transit (BAT) officially forms. Founded by Mike Greene of Portman Holdings and others who met with the Mayor in August, the organization’s chief objective is to defeat Beltline rail on the Eastside Trail. |
| 2024-01-01 |
HDR receives its contract from MARTA and begins work on the Streetcar East Extension’s final design. |
| 2024-03-01 |
HDR begins stakeholder engagement on the project. |
| 2024-03-01 |
At a public meeting at the Inman Park Trolley Barn, Better Atlanta Transit assembles a panel that includes former Mayor Shirley Franklin, a longtime mentor to Mayor Dickens. The panel casts doubts on the project’s selected mode, light rail streetcar, and argues that the mayor should pause the project while additional studies are conducted. Franklin said that as Mayor, she loved long-term projects because if they eventually happened, she would get credit. But, if they eventually disappear and never happen, she would not be blamed. This was what they wanted the Mayor to know. |
| 2025-01-01 |
The Mayor’s team at Atlanta Beltline Inc., led by Clyde Higgs, engages in private discussions and solicits a report about autonomous vehicles as the locally preferred alternative for the Beltline. |
| 2025-02-01 |
Mayor Dickens publicly reaffirms his commitment to Beltline rail. |
| 2025-03-01 |
A draft report produced by TYLin recommends scrapping light rail in favor of future technologies, such as 60-passenger autonomous buses on a new 2-lane road on The Beltline. |
| 2025-03-01 |
At a MARTA Board meeting, Mayor Dickens publicly withdraws his support for Beltline rail’s first segment, Streetcar East. He says MARTA should reprioritize the More MARTA program yet again (for the fourth time) and start Beltline rail on the Southside, where no design work has been done and passenger service would be at least 7-10 years away. |
| 2025-05-01 |
Atlanta Beltline Inc. CEO Clyde Higgs brought a motion before the PGC to end work on light rail along the Eastside Trail, the same project that the committee had unanimously advanced less than two years prior. The vote is 7-1. All three of the Mayor’s representatives, along with Higgs, who as ABI’s CEO ultimately works for the Mayor, vote to break the contract with HDR and end its work. |
