Could Atlanta Be the Next Denver?

by Jim Mathews / President & CEO

Efforts at developing, and funding, a new Amtrak station somewhere in downtown Atlanta may be picking up steam, as the Atlanta Regional Commission kicks off a study aimed at identifying a site by the end of the year.

Planners and boosters are pointing to the Denver Union Station experience as an example of how the new train station could help transform Atlanta’s downtown, a vision Mayor Andrew Dickens has already started to make into reality with the $5 billion Centennial Yards project.

Tejas Kotak, a senior planner at the ARC, was quoted in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article as saying that CSX and Norfolk Southern have “expressed openness” toward a downtown location, and as a result ARC is looking at the potential for building either a spur line or new tracks along the existing rights-of-way.

I can confirm from my informal regular conversations with both of those railroads that if Amtrak, the city, and others can come to the table with capital investment and a willingness to work through the complexities of dispatching and scheduling, they would likely find the railroads ready to talk in more detail.

ARC is looking at sites right now that are very close to nine separate MARTA subway stops as well as a Greyhound bus station. That’s a huge improvement over today’s Amtrak station which is small, nearly impossible for those with disabilities, and in need of real TLC. The newspaper also notes that the closest MARTA station to Amtrak right now is more than a mile away, “and even further from downtown.”

In this year’s legislative report and annual grant request to Congress, Amtrak argued that “properly located and paired with congestion-relieving infrastructure improvements, a new station could also enable Atlanta to become a hub for intercity passenger trains connecting both major cities and small communities across the Southeast.”

And in the Federal Railroad Administration’s Long-Distance Rail Study completed last year, FRA and the study partners envisioned Atlanta as one of four potential new hubs for intercity passenger rail in this country. While today’s Crescent service through Atlanta creates 32 direct and 370 indirect connections all by itself, the FRA study would add three more routes through Atlanta, which would add 71 more direct connections and 122 indirect.

Kotak told the newspaper that Denver Union Station is a model, a station that serves as a gathering spot – and an economic boon – even for people who aren’t traveling by train.

Indeed. Denver’s Union Station project has been an incredible growth catalyst for the city, bringing new prosperity to huge parts of downtown. When Denver’s planners came up with the idea for revitalizing the station, they believed optimistically that additional development spurred on by the station would add 9,000 residents to the area and perhaps 110,000 jobs. By 2017, the midpoint of their plan horizon of 2027, the area had already seen 22,800 residents move in to buildings around the station, and there were 133,500 jobs – 21 percent employment growth compared with the 16 percent planners projected, and 153 percent residential growth.

Locals like my son and daughter-in-law call it “Denver’s Living Room,” and they’re right. Not only is it a great place to catch a train, the RTD light rail to the airport, or commuter buses to Boulder, but the station boasts ten chef-owned restaurants and bars, five specialty shops, public recreation areas, a boutique hotel called The Crawford (which I aspire to visit someday), and more. Don’t miss the boozy milkshakes at the Milkbox Ice Creamery, or one of the best breakfasts in Denver at Snooze: an AM Eatery. Yes, I've been there a lot...

Take a look at the before-and-after picture of what the Denver Union Station project has done for that city. Now imagine the same for Atlanta. A city of Atlanta’s stature, importance, and geographic position deserves four trains a day, not one, and a gateway station anchoring renewed prosperity for Atlanta residents.

If you’re in or near Atlanta, you should make sure you’re part of the conversation. The ARC is accepting community feedback and participation right now, and you can go to this link -- https://engagesycamore.mysocialpinpoint.com/passenger-rail-station-alternatives-analysis -- to help shape the process.