Following a year-long saga of dueling audits, canopy disputes, (alleged) intentional permit holdups, tweaked construction plans, delayed progress, an opposition rally, and other frictions, MARTA announced today its Five Points station transformation has a firm restart date. 

The transit authority’s conversion of the concrete-heavy, bunker-like, 1970s facility into a more opened-up and accessible transit hub will resume May 17, beginning with the detour of numerous downtown bus routes. 

The $230-million project’s first phase—the deconstruction of the Five Points station concrete canopy—was paused last summer to allow for “additional planning to ensure continued station access,” as MARTA officials put it this week. 

Other impacts of construction will include closing station entrances at Alabama Street, Broad Street Plaza, and Peachtree Street and relocating station offices. MARTA leaders say dates for those closures will be shared once finalized. 

As deconstruction moves forward, MARTA officials stress that street-level station and elevator access will remain open on Forsyth Street. Ditto for bus access on Forsyth Street. 

A refined preview depicting how the opened-up transit hub could look and function. Courtesy of MARTA

During construction, Five Points rail service and transfers will operate as scheduled and won’t be impacted, per MARTA. The same goes for bus routes around Five Points operated by regional transit providers CobbLinc, Ride Gwinnett, and Xpress. 

MARTA say the broader goal remains to convert Five Points station into “a vibrant city center with improved transit connectivity, increased safety, and enhanced customer amenities.” 

Future phases will include erecting a new canopy and improving the station’s bus hub and pedestrian connection to Broad Street. Other facets will see new community spaces, public art, and agriculture components, per MARTA. No revised timeline for completion has been specified. 

The $230-million price tag for Five Points’ overhaul is being largely funded by the More MARTA Atlanta half-penny sales tax approved by Atlanta voters in 2016. Other funding sources include $13.8 million from the State of Georgia and a $25-million Federal RAISE Grant.  

MARTA has said 17,000 pedestrians and bus riders rely on Five Points to access the MARTA heavy rail system each day. 

Detractors, including several city councilmembers, have publicly come out against MARTA’s redesign plan on the basis, in their view, it will detract from a town-square feel and restrict pedestrian and cycling access in favor of infrastructure for 10 bus routes that connect there. (Find a refresher of what MARTA has planned for Five Point in the gallery above, via the latest renderings available.) 

Regarding bus routes, MARTA outlined the changes scheduled to begin next month as follows:  

BUS SERVICE IMPACTS BEGINNING MAY 17:

The following routes will stop at Five Points on Forsyth Street:

  • 3 – Martin Luther King Jr. Drive/Auburn Avenue
  • 40 – Peachtree Street/Downtown
  • 813 – Atlanta University Center
  • 21 – Memorial Drive
  • 49 – McDonough Boulevard
  • 55 – Jonesboro Road
  • 107 – Glenwood
  • 186 – Rainbow Road Drive/South DeKalb 

Three bus routes will be detoured to maintain service to downtown and no longer stop at Five Points:

  • 26 – Marietta Street/Perry Boulevard
  • 42 – Pryor Road
  • 816 – North Highland Avenue

The following routes will terminate at Georgia State station:

  • 21 – Memorial Drive
  • 42 – Pryor Road
  • 49 – McDonough Boulevard
  • 55 – Jonesboro Road
  • 107 – Glenwood
  • 186 – Rainbow Road Drive/South DeKalb

The following routes will terminate at King Memorial station:

  • 26 – Marietta Street/Perry Boulevard
  • 813 – Atlanta University Center
  • 899 – Old Fourth Ward

The following route will terminate at Civic Center station:

  • 816 – North Highland Avenue

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