BeltLine Rail Now

Want to talk Beltline rail in a social setting and celebrate - or commiserate- about the opening of the SE Trail with no timetable for rail? Want to meet like-minded folks for an informal happy hour with our shared interest in light rail on all 22 miles of the Beltline? Join us TONIGHT at Estoria 6:30-9:00PM! Check out the linktree in our profile or https://beltlinerailnow.com/upcoming-events/2026/4/16/brn-estoria-social!

For those coming to our Ribbon Cutting Show of Strength before, Estoria is a 25-minute walk or 10-minute bike ride up Bill Kennedy Way, the Beltline and Wylie St.

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This Thursday April 16th, a major Beltline milestone will be reached. But NOT for everyone.

The Eastside trail and Southside trail will be connected. And this is something to celebrate. For cyclists pedestrians and scooter riders, this means more contiguous Beltline and connection of the city's Southside to its Eastside by trail.

But the true promise of and reason for the Beltline, 22 miles of light rail parallel to the trail and connecting 45 Atlanta neighborhoods, 20 APS schools, 3 of the City's largest parks, 5 MARTA stations, and the largest opportunity zone for jobs in the city, languishes no closer to construction than it was two years ago when MARTA started final design of the first segment. And that's after collecting almost 800 million dollars of tax money to build it and other projects in More MARTA.

Join us Thursday in your BRN T-shirts (available at signup) and carrying signs as we remind our leaders that we expect them to deliver. We've got the trail, now BUILD THE RAIL!

See the signup in our linktree or at beltlinerailnow.com/upcoming-events. 🚊

Who's on first? ABI's Clyde Higgs says Beltline transit hasn't moved forward because the MARTA Board hasn't had a vote to approve it. Meanwhile, MARTA CEO Jonathan Hunt says MARTA is waiting on the City of Atlanta to send it a re-prioritization plan.

All the while, the city sits on its hands. A little less than a year after Mayor Andre Dickens came off Eastside Beltline light rail, electing to start light rail on the Southside section of the Beltline, nothing has happened. During a city council transportation committee meeting this week, Hunt said MARTA still hasn't received a transit re-prioritization list from the city.

Let's tally this. ABI is waiting on the MARTA board while MARTA, the transportation agency, waits on the city.

Wasn't the rationale behind Mayor Dickens' decision to move the light rail starting point from the Eastside trail to the Southside to get things moving and bring equity to an under served part of town? Apparently moving with rapidity is not a priority. To date, no design or engineering work has started on the Southside Beltline, the necessary first step to make way for light rail. And as we learned at this week's city council transportation meeting, the city hasn't even sent a transit re-prioritization list to MARTA, which would put Southside Beltline light rail planning in motion. This is something the city promised MARTA in December it would have to them in February. We're almost in March.

Atlanta City Council wants say in More MARTA projects moving forward In recent weeks, Atlanta City Council members have expressed dissatisfaction at being in the dark on the decision to stop work on the Eastside Beltline light rail project.