Globalization & Urbanization: Atlanta’s MARTA needs a Boob Job!

After the 1996 Olympics which the city hosted, Atlanta saw years of economic boom and expanded in every direction possible. Accompanying the boom of course was a huge influx of people, from all backgrounds and social class. Just like most cities in the USA, more well to do people lived in the suburbs surrounding the city while the poorer people lived in the city, except for the well to do youth who moved into the many luxury city apartments and condominiums to enjoy HOTlanata’s night life. And just as in the American Dream, each person has a car and each person happily drives by him/herself everyday to work and back, all 5 million of them.

city planners thought commuting to the city would be a breeze given the size of the highways built, 7-lanes per direction (Picture Below). Not only one highway was built, but a few that all join together at multiple engineering marvels such as the famous Spaghetti Junction (Pictured Below). As marvelous as the designs are, it is still a fact that roadways are packed bumper to bumper with cars, SUVS, Semi's and more, stuck, not moving anywhere. People in the Atlanta area are warned not to venture onto the interstate without three quarters of a tank of gas, plenty of water, a little food and maybe a blanket as the interstate routinely gets shut down for several hours on end with accidents and worse.



Part of the problem with the interstate system around the Atlanta area is that everyone drives a separate car to work. It is kind of logical that too many people with too many cars, some of which are oversized as well, will fill up the roadways to an extent where the interstate becomes a parking lot. To fight this, an express lane was built for buses and cars with at least 2 passengers. The result: a few cars actually using the new lane while the rest are still locked in the hour plus jams.

Finally, the city of Atlanta decides to use a mass transport system and thus, MARTA was born. MARTA stands for Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority which is made up of a bus and railway system. However, it is apparent how serious the municipality is about MARTA. Regarding the bus system, the buses are never on schedule with waits up to an hour long during regular working days. Also, there is no good enough route system that connects all areas together in an efficient way with multi-stop and expressway busses. As for the railway system, a picture of the rail map should be more than enough to show how incomprehensive the system is. With only 2 perpendicular lines running in a huge city, less than a quarter of the city is covered by rail and only a few select locations are accessible, most of them being touristy landmarks. Also, there is no access to the railway system from the suburbs and the farthermost stations barely have enough parking built to accommodate a few hundred cars. Thus, the MARTA is left for the poorest of Atlanta’s inhabitants and as a hub for crime and gang activity, making its stations one of the most dangerous places to be after sunset.

Even if the major traffic jams are not good enough proof of the city’s transport problem or the increase in fuel prices, the deficit in parking spaces in the city should be. It is about time the city let go of the firm grasp of the car industry and starts making plans for a good efficient mass transport system. MARTA needs a MAJOR boob job now.