FRA Finally Picks Chattanooga-Atlanta Hi-Speed Train Route!
And they’ve selected Interstate 75! Amazing! Nobody would have thought of 75 as a route from Atlanta to Chattanooga except everybody. Why’d it take so long? From Railway Age…
The corridor includes eight rail stations and is estimated to take 88 minutes of travel time from the first to last station. The route would begin on the east side of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (HJAIA) at the proposed HJAIA/Southern Crescent Station and end at a proposed downtown Chattanooga station.
“This combined FEIS and ROD is a product of nine years’ work from FRA and its state partners,” said FRA Deputy Administrator Heath Hall. “The administration is working diligently to remove barriers which slow down the environmental process, so that people can get to work rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure.”
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) studied the corridor as part of that state’s 1997 Intercity Rail Plan; GDOT and the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) later identified 15 corridors between Atlanta and Chattanooga. A screening process ultimately narrowed down three corridors for the FEIS.
This is all excellent news. The inclusion of a station at Cumberland is interesting, could they get a Hi-Speed Train before they get MARTA? The race is on!
Click through to see the map!
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Stefan
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Please go to Savannah or Charlestown next.
Georgia had the option to buy the line from Atlanta to Savannah in 2001 from NorfolkSouthern, but then we elected Perdue. And this report is just to spend an earmark to avoid the funds being rescinded. Tier II studies won’t happen unless GDOT provides the local match.
I don’t comment much as a transportation public servant, but that’s the reality.
I think only the Macon-Griffin-Atlanta portion could perhaps have been purchased, and that Barnes had a shot at it too.