Feds send MARTA $750,000 grant for southwest Atlanta corridor

(The Center Square) — The feds are sending $750,000 to the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority to study the potential for transit-oriented development around the Campbellton Community Investment Corridor.

MARTA completed a transit-oriented development master plan for the six-mile bus rapid transit corridor in 2023. Officials said the Federal Transit Administration grant, announced Tuesday, will support developing a plan to implement the recommendations and identify possible public and private funding sources.

The money is part of more than $17.6 million tranche the FTA announced for 20 communities in 16 states. It is from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, sometimes called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which ostensibly supports “equitable transit-oriented development.”

“We’ve been working on TOD planning along the Rapid Campbellton line because we know from past experience that development often happens before construction has begun,” MARTA General Manager and CEO Collie Greenwood said in a statement. “We’ve developed a vision for the type of density and equitable development that will support transit along the Campbellton Corridor, and this FTA grant will help us create an implementation plan that will bring that vison into a reality.”

The corridor will connect MARTA’s Oakland City station with a new Greenbriar transit hub; it will terminate at the Barge Road park-and-ride, have nine stations and operate using dedicated lanes. The corridor is served by one of MARTA’s busiest bus routes, and the project is slated for completion in 2028.

MARTA officials said the agency is conducting transit-oriented development planning studies for the H.E. Holmes and Bankhead stations. They are also studying future rapid lines, including in Clayton County.