Atlanta mayor: Eastside Beltline transit is no longer a priority
by Darin Givens | March 15, 2025
Mayor Andre Dickens announced to the MARTA board of directors this week that he wants rail to be built on the Southside of the Beltline first, and that he wants the Eastside Beltline rail line to be delayed for a second phase at some point in the future. That's according to an AJC article.
"We are committed to building rail on the Beltline, however, not in the form that has been previously discussed," said Courtney English, the mayor's chief adviser.
You can view the mayor's entire plan in PDF format here: threadatl.org/dickens-streetcar. It shows a Phase 1 that contains only an extension of the current Downtown streetcar to the Beltline (at Lake Avenue), but not actually continuing on the Beltline. Only in a proposed second phase would transit be added to the Southside of the Beltline path, and to the Eastside path.
Mayor Dickens' plan for Beltline rail
One thing that's hopeful about the text of the mayor's plan: it specifically calls for light-rail on the Beltline versus some lesser format of transit.
Big questions about funding and timelines
There is no mention in the mayor's plan of a timeline for this second phase, and no mention of how the work would be funded.
The Atlanta Beltline website says this about the Eastside Streetcar Extension:
"An intergovernmental agreement between MARTA and the City of Atlanta has been executed, with MARTA on point for contracting and funding the consulting work for conceptual transit design work. MARTA is targeting to have operational transit in place by 2028."
Is it possible that the 2028 date now becomes the target for Dickens' idea of only extending the existing streetcar to the Eastside Beltline and not on it? We don't know.
Regarding the implementation of rail on the Southside Beltline, planners have done some preliminary work on an alignment for transit, but there doesn't appear to be any mention of an exact timeline, which means construction is far expected to be far in the future:
https://beltline.org/blog/citywide-conversation:-beltline-transit-study-update/
The question of how rail will be funded on the south portion is a huge one. The Tier 1 funding plan for the More MARTA tax only includes Beltline transit on the Eastside Beltline and nowhere else. Does this mean that Dickens wants the plan for More MARTA funding to be altered? Again, we don't know.
All we can say for sure is that this disruption will extend the timeline for putting rail on any part of the Beltline by many years, and that there's no guarantee of any funding available for the mayor's plan.
Is this new plan an election year tactic?
Given these unknowns, and the inevitable delay it's easy to view this as an election year tactic. With this new plan, Dickens appears to be throwing a bone to the Eastside NIMBYs who oppose Beltline rail, while making Southside residents feel like he cares about them by announcing them as a priority.
Meanwhile, he won't have to worry about implementation of Beltline rail while he's in office, since this change will upend the timeline for Beltline rail by many years, far after he's gone from office.
For those of us who've been following Beltline planning since the beginning, and who believed that early promise of rail, this Dickens administration has been particularly frustrating. He campaigned on a promise of supporting Beltline rail. Many believed he would be the transit mayor. What he's done now has left us with unanswered questions and more delays.
