The Atlanta Metropolis Council voted Monday to provoke a monetary audit of Extra MARTA Atlanta, the signature capital program of the Metropolitan Atlanta Speedy Transit Authority. MARTA operates an in depth rail and bus system that serves town of Atlanta and Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton counties.
In 2019, the MARTA Board of Administrators authorized Extra MARTA Atlanta, a slate of 17 initiatives at a projected value of $2.7 billion that will add new mild rail strains, bus fast transit and arterial fast transit and make station enhancements. A number of the funding is coming from a half-cent gross sales tax that Atlanta voters authorized in 2016. The primary 5 initiatives had been to be partially or totally in service by 2025. Nevertheless, in keeping with information reviews, MARTA has begun building on only one venture as of final month, the Summerhill bus fast transit line, which is anticipated to be accomplished in 2025.
Final 12 months, in keeping with a MARTA assertion, the company contracted with HDR, an engineering and building service agency, to “develop a dynamic monetary mannequin to account for modifications in venture prices, supply dates, [and] state and federal funding alternatives.”
However in January, the Atlanta Metropolis Council started to query MARTA’s potential to ship on all 17 initiatives after a former high-ranking MARTA government alleged in a social media submit that “a third-party monetary capability evaluation draft report projected a income shortfall in extra of $1 Billion for Extra Marta Atlanta.”
MARTA Common Supervisor and CEO Collie Greenwood unveiled a scaled-down program at a March 1 assembly of the Atlanta Metropolis Council’s Transportation Committee. The brand new proposal focuses on 9 precedence initiatives to be accomplished by 2028 at a value of practically $2 billion. The initiatives embrace the Summerhill bus fast transit line that’s below building, two extra bus fast transit strains, two arterial transit strains, extending the Atlanta streetcar, upgrading two rail stations and a brand new multimodal transit hub. The proposal postpones different initiatives till a minimum of 2035, in keeping with information reviews.
That didn’t fulfill members of the Atlanta Metropolis Council. Council President Doug Shipman, as quoted by Tough Draft Atlanta, stated, “I nonetheless don’t consider we’ve got a transparent understanding of what cash has been spent, what cash plans to be spent and what cash we may have for initiatives sooner or later.” The Council requested MARTA to provoke the method for a monetary audit of this system by March 29.
MARTA issued a assertion calling the Metropolis Council’s actions “disappointing and disingenuous.” It warned that “such a overview will obligate MARTA to pause work on all Extra MARTA Atlanta initiatives, except for the federally funded Summerhill BRT and 5 Factors Transformation, till this matter is resolved.”