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MARTA asking lawmakers to approve traffic cameras to enforce new bus-only lanes

By FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team
Published  December 13, 2024 8:10am EST
MARTA
FOX 5 Atlanta

MARTA bus-only lane traffic enforcement

MARTA is asking state lawmakers for automated cameras to enforce a new bus-only lane for its MARTA Rapid Summerhill project.

The Brief

    • MARTA is asking state lawmakers to approve the agency's use of automated traffic cameras to enforce its new bus-only lanes.
    • The request is connected to the agency's new MARTA Rapid Summerhill project that will open next year and be the city's first bus rapid transit system.
    • A MARTA representative told lawmakers the agency is planning to have a warning period and educational campaign to help the public avoid fines. 

ATLANTA - MARTA wants Georgia legislators to greenlight automated traffic cameras in bus-only lanes.

Next year, the transit agency will open its new bus rapid transit, named MARTA Rapid Summerhill, which will be a 5-mile round-trip route connecting Downtown Atlanta to Summerhill, Peoplestown, and the Atlanta Beltline's Southside Trail.

The project has been under construction since 2023 and is set to have 14 new stations with new electric buses on dedicated bus lanes.

The MARTA Rapid Summerhill plan (MARTA)

To try and keep drivers out of the lanes, MARTA is asking for automated cameras, arguing that it reduces law enforcement personnel costs and will allow for EMS and first responders to use the lanes. 

"We do not want to disproportionally affect the citizens in this area, so we do have first-time forgiveness and graduated fines to match the distracted driving this body passed a few years ago." said Jennifer Larosa, MARTA's director of government and community affairs. 

Larosa said the agency plans a six-month warning period and a "robust educational campaign" discussing the enforcement of the lane restrictions.

No arrests will be made in connection with any violations, she said.

The other option would be constructing barriers around the lanes. 

Lawmakers will debate the proposal in the upcoming legislative session.

The Source

  • Information for this story came from testimony by MARTA's Director of Government and Community Affairs Jennifer Larosa at the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Overview Committee meeting and MARTA's website discussing the MARTA Rapid Summerhill project.

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