"We are happy to work creatively with the state to help find alternate routes into the city and to discuss possible routes on Norfolk-Southern lines outside the perimeter,” Richard Harris, a spokesman with the railroad, wrote in an email. “We have a good working relationship with state MMPT [Multimodal Passenger Terminal] planners and want to help facilitate a solution that would be of mutual benefit for freight and passenger rail."
— Passenger trains essential to plans for downtown multimodal terminal station | SaportaReport, 6/2/2013
The Society for Georgia Archaeology shares some interesting info from the findings of an investigation into Downtown Atlanta’s Gulch. The study is being done in preparation for the MultiModal Passenger Terminal planned for this spot:
Archaeological investigations of “the Gulch” in downtown Atlanta
The 1864 photo above is of the Chattanooga Railroad roundhouse that stood in what is now the Gulch. Creating this 19th-century railroad infrastructure — around which Atlanta was originally built — apparently involved a lot of ground infill. Here’s a quote from the post:
Originally, several ravines and spring heads existed in the Gulch. These terrain features were gradually graded and leveled to accommodate an ever-expanding railroad center. Soil cores indicated that up to 45 feet of fill was used in some areas to level the yard.
It’s interesting to know there were ravines and springs in this spot before the railroad. I think of the Gulch as being the ground level that you see below the viaducts running above, but it turns out the original ground level was lower than that in many places. Here’s another quote:
Coring also identified the oldest man-made terrain feature in Atlanta, the Monroe Embankment, which was constructed in 1838 as the original right-of-way of the M&WRR.
You can see a photo of the Monroe Embankment, an earthwork built in the 1840s to support one of Atlanta’s first train lines, here on Flickr. The photo was taken in 1990 during construction of parking for the Georgia World Congress Center.
The SGA post closes by promising more interesting finds from this investigation in the future. Yes, please!
This is a nice photo from Wendy Darling (wdarling) of crowds today at the Megabus stop downtown on West Peachtree Street. Wendy writes:
All people waiting on various Megabuses out of Atlanta. A lady has organized us into groups. I’m with the TN folks. (Taken with Instagram at MARTA - Civic Center Station)
It’s an appropriate day to post about intercity bus riders since this morning it was announced that the downtown Atlanta Multimodal Passenger Terminal has been fast-tracked by the federal government. This status will cut the permit & review time for the project down significantly, with a January 2014 completion pegged. After that, the construction phase can begin.
According to documentation on the MMPT at the Georgia DOT site, the terminal will in part provide a new passenger hub for intercity buses such as Megabus and Greyhound.
This is a welcome project in my book. As you can see in the photo above, the Megabus crowds are not well suited for the sidewalk in front of this MARTA station. I can’t imagine the scene in the rain. And the downtown Greyhound station is so sad I’m not even going to depress you with a photo of it.
This news about the MMPT may not be as exciting as a guarantee of High Speed Rail, but I’ll take progress as it comes.
