ATLANTA — MARTA will hold a meeting tonight to further outline its hotly-debated plan for transit development along the Campbellton Road corridor.
The meeting will run from 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. at Junction2800 at 2800 Campbellton Road SW. There was no announced digital stream for the meeting.
A plan to introduce bus rapid transit (BRT) lines along the corridor has been met with pushback from some city lawmakers and activists, who have claimed the plan is shortchanging the southwest Atlanta neighborhood.
Some community advocates and city representatives, including Councilwoman Marci Collier Overstreet, have argued the MARTA board originally approved a light rail system that would cost about $300 million, and what the community wants and deserves is that light rail.
The corridor generally connects the Greenbriar Mall area on the Westside perimeter to the Oakland City MARTA station south of Downtown - one of Atlanta's busiest transit corridors utilized by a historically underserved community.
MARTA has said the BRT expansion plan would provide the transit expansion far more quickly and cheaply. The transit authority has also said the "total investment is still a work in progress" with a roughly $200 million difference in the cost of the light rail project and what's being offered with BRT.
City leaders, including Overstreet and Mayor Andre Dickens, have vowed to ensure that the area sees a full $300 million of investment.
In a release, MARTA said the meeting will be "an opportunity for the project team to provide information on the land use, affordability, and design aspects of the project and for residents, business owners, and stakeholders to learn about the proposed high-capacity transit mode that will be presented to the MARTA Board of Directors for approval."
MARTA has previously told 11Alive once the transit authority's Board of Directors approves the BRT plan, it could move forward with applying for federal assistance to put it in motion.