Thousands of airport workers and travelers will see disruptions on their route to the world’s busiest airport, with the temporary closure of the MARTA station at Hartsfield-Jackson International starting Monday.
The Airport station is one of the busiest in the rail system, transporting an estimated 11,000 riders a day.
The station is scheduled to be closed for renovations for six weeks, from April 8 until May 19. During that time, MARTA will operate shuttles every 12 minutes between the next nearest station, College Park, and the airport’s domestic terminal, to maintain connectivity to the airport.
Officials are recommending riders allow an extra half hour to get to Hartsfield-Jackson on MARTA. That additional 30 minutes is longer than the time it takes to get from downtown to the airport on the train.
Credit: MARTA
Credit: MARTA
Some people in metro Atlanta — particularly those who live near MARTA stations — rely on the train as a convenient and affordable way to get to the airport. Those who are traveling during the six-week period will have a more arduous trip to the airport.
Paul Tribble, a retiree who lives in Buckhead, usually takes MARTA as a convenient option when he’s flying out for a short domestic trip.
“It’s really a great thing that we have, you know, a train that goes out to the airport. I think that’s a real feather in Atlanta’s cap,” Tribble said.
But he said if he had to fly somewhere during the Airport station closure, “I don’t think I would do it.” Instead of taking the train and then a shuttle ride adding extra time to the trip, “I’m just going to probably go as convenient as I can” — taking Uber instead, he said.
MARTA officials said they are scheduling the station closure during a slower travel period — after spring break and before Memorial Day weekend and the busy summer travel season.
The share of airline passengers who use MARTA each day is relatively small, making up a fraction of the roughly 300,000 passengers a day that pass through the Atlanta airport, including connecting and local passengers.
Still, the rail service serves a vital role for thousands of airport workers and travelers.
Airport worker connection
Of the daily MARTA passengers who use the Airport Station, many are airport workers, said MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
More than 63,000 workers are based at Hartsfield-Jackson, including airport custodians, airline customer service employees and gate agents, baggage handlers, concessions workers, pilots, flight attendants, cargo handlers and many others. Unlike travelers, many commute to the airport five days a week throughout the year.
Tribble said while he can afford to take Uber as an alternative to get to the airport, for those that work there, “I can see that could be a real problem.” Depending on time of day, an Uber or Lyft ride from downtown could cost about $20, and could go much higher with surge pricing.
MARTA has launched a campaign to inform airport employers and others about the station closure, along with signs directing riders.
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Trans-Air Concessions, which operates shops at Hartsfield-Jackson, is subsidizing rideshare rides for employees who rely on MARTA to get to work, said the company’s managing member Felker Ward III. It’s an expansion of an existing program to help employees get to work early in the morning, before MARTA starts running, to open the airport shops, he said.
While many employees have cars, the MARTA Airport station closure still “affects a lot of our employees,” Ward said. He said MARTA and airport officials “gave us some time to prepare, and we certainly appreciate that.”
“We’ve got rideshare, we’ve got people riding with each other,” he said. “We’ve just done a lot of different things to cover ourselves. ... We have no choice.”
International impressions
MARTA officials say Atlanta is one of the few U.S. cities with a direct rail line into the airport from downtown, with a transit time of 17 minutes. Only one U.S. city — Washington, D.C. — has a faster rail trip into the city center, according to Greenwood.
The Airport station opened in 1988 and this is the first time it has been renovated.
“After decades of utility, it stands to reason that it’s starting to show its age,” Greenwood said.
Greenwood said the Airport station work is part of MARTA’s efforts to improve the rail network’s hub stations with refurbishments.
Credit: Miguel Martinez
Credit: Miguel Martinez
“This is the first impression for many people coming into this city, coming into this country,” Greenwood said. Travelers “are coming from places where they’re accustomed to taking transit on a regular basis, and they’re bringing with them the expectations and standards of aesthetics and cleanliness and service and amenities (from) all over the world.”
Credit: Source: MARTA
Credit: Source: MARTA
“But it’s about more than the international visitors,” Greenwood said. “It’s about the people that are here, day in, day out, people that live and work in Atlanta, the people that depend on this connection as a vital link to getting them to work day in and day out.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC
Rehabilitation work for the $55 million project at the MARTA Airport station has been going on since June 2022.
MARTA officials said they are opting to close the station for this phase of work for safety reasons and to reduce construction time by 17 months.
“Yes, it’s going to be disruptive. Yes, it’s going to be messy,” Greenwood said. “But that’s progress. And I promise you it will be temporary and I promise you that it will be worth it.”
Credit: Source: MARTA
Credit: Source: MARTA
There is still more work planned beyond the closure including ceiling and lighting replacement, elevator rehabilitation, new signs, a new RideStore and a public art installation at the MARTA Airport station.
The renovation work will continue into 2025, with nightly closures for 10 months next year and “a potential second six-week closure at the end of construction” for installation of the canopy structure, according to the transit agency.
The full MARTA Airport station renovation project is scheduled to be completed before the World Cup in 2026, when Atlanta will be the host of eight matches.
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