A day after city and Beltline leadership made clear they have no intention of building light rail on the Eastside Trail, officials moved to explain what they intend to build instead.
The short version: the Atlanta Streetcar still expands, and it can still reach the Beltline corridor near Krog Street Market, as previously planned. What it will not do is turn north and run up the Eastside Trail.
The reversal
Mayor Andre Dickens told MARTA's Board of Directors in a Thursday meeting, unequivocally and for the first time, that the city is shifting focus away from the Eastside Trail after years of planning for an estimated $230 million light-rail system there.
MARTA had unveiled plans two and a half years ago for a five-stop route to Ponce City Market. That proposal drew loud opposition from some quarters and equally strong support from Atlantans who saw it as the city finally committing to rail in a dense, walkable place where transit demand already exists.
The argument for going southwest
Dickens told MARTA leadership that a southside Beltline transit system built in partnership with the agency would better serve the city, and that project leaders will focus on improving the existing Atlanta Streetcar and branching it into Southwest Atlanta's Beltline corridor via a connection at Murphy Crossing.
The mayor's office issued a release Thursday evening framing that shift as a transformative plan for equitable access to transit, one meant to help build a local economy that works for all Atlantans. City officials pointed to Atlanta's repeated ranking as the country's worst metro for income inequality, including again this month, as the reasoning.
What it means downtown
For downtown specifically, this keeps the streetcar as the city's rail expansion vehicle rather than a standalone Beltline system. An extension east along Auburn Avenue toward Krog Street would tie Sweet Auburn and Old Fourth Ward more directly into the existing loop, and a southwest branch would connect downtown to a part of the city that has waited longest for rail.
Public engagement on the revised plans is expected in coming months. The Eastside Trail, meanwhile, stays a trail.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published March 2025.
