MARTA’s easternmost station marked a significant milestone this week as part of a program meant to upgrade transit hubs from Buckhead and Atlanta’s Westside to the airport and beyond.  

MARTA and development officials on Monday held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new pedestrian bridge and west plaza at Indian Creek station, the easternmost terminus of the Blue Line that serves an average of 3,000 transit customers per day in eastern DeKalb County. 

The new pedestrian bridge—a link for residents on Durham Park Road to the north end of the station—is considered the centerpiece of the broader Indian Creek Rehabilitation project. 

The new bridge boosts access to Indian Creek station for people on foot and bikes, while better connecting the station to a planned trail network in the area, per MARTA. Courtesy of MARTA

Vibrant orange panels and new lighting installed under Indian Creek station's barrel roof. Courtesy of MARTA

Other upgrades included new lighting and landscaping, illuminated signage throughout the station, benches and trash receptacles, a deep cleaning, a repaved bus loop, and a new operators’ booth and restroom added to the station’s platform.

Indian Creek was the first station to begin construction in MARTA’s Station Rehabilitation Program, which calls for aesthetic and structural upgrades at rail stations across the transit system. 

Jonathan Hunt, interim MARTA general manager, called Indian Creek station a “major lifeline for DeKalb County” in a Monday announcement. 

“For residents in surrounding neighborhoods, this bridge is transformational,” Hunt said. “It significantly reduces travel time, it provides a safe, accessible route into the station, and it removes barriers that once made transit less convenient.”  

Courtesy of MARTA

Courtesy of MARTA

Long-term plans at Indian Creek station call for a sweeping, Transit Oriented Development remake of the 64-acre property called “Indian Creek Village.” 

The nearly 1.7-million-square-foot TOD would swap parking lots just south of Indian Creek station for a dense collection of buildings, greenspaces, plazas, and parking structures. The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners voted to approve rezoning of the property to allow for mixed uses in May 2024, but the initiative has gone quiet since. 

The full project calls for 1,600 residential units consuming the vast majority of new development, set among 4 acres of parks and recreation space with a multi-use trail. Should it come to fruition as shown in master-planning documents, the project would dwarf all others in MARTA’s TOD portfolio. No timeline for development has been specified.

All 38 rail stations in MARTA’s system will eventually be part of the rehabilitation program, the agency said when it launched in 2021. Along with Indian Creek, the $300-million first phase has covered or will cover College Park, Five Points, Lenox, Arts Center, H.E. Holmes, and Airport stations.

Indian Creek station’s $10-million upgrades, as designed by Axis Infrastructure, are being funded by DeKalb County’s penny sales tax, MARTA officials have said. The project team also includes Carroll Daniel Construction Company and C.D. Moody Construction Company. 

Swing up to the gallery for a closer look. 

Courtesy of MARTA

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