(The Associated Press circulated the following story on December 11.)
ATLANTA — Work could begin immediately if Gov. Sonny Perdue approves a $106 million plan for a long-awaited rail line from Atlanta to Macon.
State Transportation Department officials asked Perdue to approve a plan to open a 26-mile commuter rail line from Atlanta to Lovejoy in south Clayton County by mid-2006.
Earlier this year, Perdue said he had doubts about the state’s stalled commuter rail program. He is expected to decide soon on the latest plan for the Lovejoy route that could open the way for eventually connecting Atlanta to Macon by rail.
In a Nov. 12 letter to Perdue, Transportation Commissioner Harold Linnenkohl said the state had $87 million in state and federal funds on hand to buy refurbished trains, upgrade and lay track and build platforms. The state would use an additional $19 million in state roadway funds to build park-and-ride lots and install crossing signals.
The state would upgrade track owned by Norfolk Southern Railroad but not buy it outright. The railroad would continue to use the track for freight operations.
The commuter rail plan, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution under the state Open Records Act, includes a scaled-down version of the passenger terminal proposed for downtown Atlanta. There would be two covered platforms, direct access to the Five Points MARTA rail station, and a pedestrian walkway to Philips Arena.
The train would stop in East Point, Forest Park, Morrow and Jonesboro and travel at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour. The 46-minute trip to Lovejoy would cost $5.60 one way, according to the plan.
The department estimates the line would carry 1,800 passengers a day initially and more than 3,000 passengers a day by 2009. The 770,000 trips per year would take enough automobiles off the road to eliminate 3,200 hours of highway delay for motorists, the plan estimates.
For two decades, leaders in communities along proposed commuter rail lines to Macon, Athens and other major Georgia cities have dreamed of the economic development opportunities such passenger trains could bring.
“This is terrific,” said Forest Park city manager Bill Werner after learning of the proposal. “It’s going to help us revitalize our commercial areas, our Main Street.”
State Transportation Board member Emory McClinton of Atlanta supports the rail as a way to get commuters out of the cars that clog metro Atlanta’s roads and pollute its air.
“It’s time that we put a commitment to that program or abandon it,” McClinton said Thursday.
Transportation Board members got their first look at the plan at their monthly meeting Thursday. It was handed out quietly but not discussed.
Board member David Doss of Rome was skeptical. “Someone’s just going to have to convince me the ridership is going to justify the investment,” he said.