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DeKalb Officials Developing Transit Master Plan

August 14th, 2018

Chris Tomlinson, executive director of the ATL, joined Closer Look host Rose Scott on Tuesday’s edition of the program for a conversation about the Atlanta region’s transit goals amid the pandemic.

dbking / Wikimedia Commons

DeKalb officials are preparing to join metro Atlanta’s new regional transit authority by developing a 30-year transit master plan.

DeKalb county and its cities are working with the Atlanta Regional Commission and MARTA to create the blueprint.

“The Transit Master Plan will identify fiscally sensible transit improvements that address the mobility needs of all of our residents,” said DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond in a release.

Officials will look at how to improve current rail and bus service and where to build new transit.

DeKalb is one of 13 counties in the new Atlanta Transit Link Authority, known as the ATL. That’s the agency state lawmakers established this year to coordinate bus and rail service for metro Atlanta.

DeKalb held two public meetings in March 2018 to gather community input. It’s now launched a website to collect additional feedback and plans to hold more public meetings in the coming months.

Other metro Atlanta counties have recently undertaken the transit planning process. Gwinnett County, which will also be included in the ATL, recently released a transit plan that included bringing heavy rail into the county.