The Five Points overhaul has reached the part where something physically comes down.
Skanska has begun what it calls the surgical deconstruction of the concrete canopy over MARTA's Five Points station, six months after the delayed project officially resumed. It is the first step in converting the 144,400-square-foot bus and rail hub into what the firm describes as a more accessible and safer city center in the heart of downtown.
Why it is surgical
The existing canopy is not a simple roof. It is built from pre-stressed concrete beams, post-tension cables, hollow-core slabs, glazing and columns, an assembly that stores energy in its own tensioning and cannot simply be knocked down. Removing it piece by piece, in sequence, is the only safe method.
The complication is that the station underneath stays open. All of the work is happening while the underground portion continues serving MARTA customers, which constrains both the hours and the methods available.
What replaces it
The current roof gives way to a 32,000-square-foot mass-timber canopy incorporating three new pedestrian entrances, according to Skanska. Trading a windowless concrete deck for timber and three street-level openings is the whole idea of the project in one substitution: the 1970s structure was designed to be passed through, and the replacement is designed to be walked into.
The station's actual standing
Five Points has been the system's largest station and the central transfer point for every rail line since MARTA opened. It is not, contrary to common belief, the busiest. Agency officials recently confirmed the Airport station holds that title, with Five Points second.
That distinction matters for a rebuild running on a World Cup clock. Five Points is where the network crosses itself, so work there touches every line regardless of which station counts the most riders, and the schedule has to carry the project through the busiest month downtown has seen in decades.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published November 2025.