MARTA has continued to study the CCTI for almost two decades, committing a huge investment in funding, planning and community engagement, while advancing the project through the federal process, where it is viewed as a strong contender to compete with other projects from around the country for limited federal funding. The CCTMA began working with MARTA to explore transit opportunities, providing funding for initial studies and worked with members of Georgia’s congressional delegation to secure federal funding for the feasibility study of the CCTI. In 1998, the Clifton Corridor Transportation Management Association was formed by Emory University and its healthcare institutions, the CDC, CHOA, VA Medical Center, Emory Conference Center Hotel and other businesses to address the significant transportation challenges in the Corridor. The planning for rail to the Clifton Corridor has been going on for years. These are the jobs of the future and access to them should be available to all citizens. Job growth in Georgia’s life sciences industry increased almost 15 percent over the past decade, double the national average, and is expected to continue to rise. The Clifton Corridor Transit Initiative would provide ease of connectivity for enhanced collaboration across academic institutions and the opportunity for increased economic development and innovation. With the metro region’s top academic research universities fueling a growing life sciences industry, Atlanta has a unique opportunity to be a world leader in the biomedical/biotech arena. Recent data from the ARC forecasts the largest growth in jobs over the next few decades will be in the healthcare sector, with scientific research and technology closely following. Rail transit would substantially reduce transportation costs, allowing workers to allocate these savings to other expenses such as housing and food.Ī version of the Clifton Corridor transit route appeared in a planning document released in June 1961 by the Atlanta Region Metropolitan Planning Commission, a precursor of the Atlanta Regional Commission.
Atlanta area households spend almost 19 percent of their budgets on transportation costs, with over 94 percent spent on buying and maintaining private vehicles – well above the national average of 16 percent in household costs. Many cannot afford to live close by, or drive to, the Clifton Corridor area, and a rail connection into the MARTA system would help promote equity and regional mobility by connecting workers to jobs that otherwise would be out of reach. It would also open up access to thousands of job opportunities at the CDC, Emory, the VA Medical Center and other institutions and businesses for residents throughout the City of Atlanta and the metro region. The Clifton Corridor has continued to see massive growth with the CDC – the largest federal agency headquartered outside of Washington – and Emory, now the largest employer in Atlanta with an annual economic impact of $11.4 billion.īut it’s not just about the transit service this connection would provide for close to 30,000 employees who work along the Clifton Corridor, the 15,500 students and the numerous health care patients and their families who travel to the area every day. Why is this transit line so significant for Atlanta and the metro region? It would connect wide areas of the city and intown communities to a critically important employment center that is still not served directly by MARTA rail or the interstate system.
Today, six decades later, the Clifton Corridor rail line is still a top priority for local transit planning agencies and the rail line best positioned for federal matching funds.
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